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WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



WHEN BLACK 

MEETS WHITE 



BY 
JOHN LOUIS HILL, A.M., B.D. 

Author of "The Transition," "As Others See Us and 

As We Are," Etc. 



CHICAGO 

THE ARGYLE PUBLISHERS 
1922 



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Copyright, 1922 

BY 

JOHN LOUIS HILL 






Printed in the United States of America 



DEC 12 72 

Si, A6 9 23 63 









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To My Friend 

millxam RanDoipf) Cotoan 



PREFACE 

While the author has given much of his 
life to the study of sociological questions, par- 
ticularly to the race problem in America, and 
while the preparation of this book has been 
accomplished with much labor, he does not 
regard it as a distinct contribution to litera- 
ture or history. However, if through these 
pages the pulsations and heart-throbs of sin- 
cerity grown out of a deep human interest are 
not detected, and if sound reasoning and 
logical deductions are not evident, the writer 
will be sadly disappointed, for the best in his 
mind and heart has been put into this work. 

Acknowledgment is hereby made to Prof. 
Monroe N. Work, Director of the Depart- 
ment of Records and Research, Tuskegee 
Normal and Industrial Institute, for permis- 
sion to use much valuable data and biograph- 
ical information taken from the Negro Year 
Book of that department for the year 1918- 
1919. In this connection, readers should note 
the date of the Year Book, bearing in mind 



PREFACE 

that many of the figures quoted are now prac- 
tically useless and that the economic, educa- 
tional, and religious progress of the Negro in 
America, during the last three years, has in- 
creased in proportion over any like period of 
the past. In round numbers and in a general 
survey, the scope of this book is meant to set 
forth the achievements of the Race within the 
first half-century of its freedom. 

He acknowledges, also, a deep sense of obli- 
gation to Dr. Robert R. Moton, Principal, 
and to the Rev. G. Lake Imes, Dean of Phelps 
Hall Bible Training School, Tuskegee Nor- 
mal and Industrial Institute, for valuable 
criticisms in response to the author's request. 

To Mr. Claude A. Barnett of the Asso- 
ciated Negro Press, and to other gentlemen of 
the Race, the author is grateful for helpful 
suggestions, friendly criticisms, and sustained 
encouragement. 

Last and by no means least, to many other 
men and women of my own race, who are 
deeply interested in this subject, the author 
feels thankful for much assistance in making 
this book a reality. 

The sincere wish of the author is that this 



PREFACE 

contribution to a great cause may accomplish 
the purpose for which it was conceived and 
written. 

The Author. 



INTRODUCTION 



Upon this plane there is no race problem, 
— just the sublime fact of humanity. 

The race problem cannot be solved by those 
who are disturbed over so insignificant a thing 
as the shade of one's skin. No one is respon- 
sible for the physical being with which he 
was endowed by his progenitors. He is no 
more responsible for the color of his skin than 
for that of his hair or eyes. And vain is the 
glory of any individual, race, kindred, tongue 
or tribe if that glory is limited to the color of 
the outer coating of the soul's transient abode, 
which is so soon faded, disfigured and de- 
stroyed by the ravages of time. 

Therefore, my reader, if you are not above 
such an unworthy prejudice, the contents of 
this book will not appeal to you. Fifty years 
of progress by Negroes in America, covering 
the period between the Civil War and the 
present time, demonstrate the fact that 
Negroes are capable of improvement in every 
phase of life and of advancement in every 
line of endeavor, possibly unsurpassed by any 
other people in so brief a period of the world's 
history. 

The author makes no plea for colored peo- 



INTRODUCTION 



pie as such. In fact, after birth and training 
in the South and after twenty years of resi- 
dence in the North, he no longer knows 
Negroes at all, save as brother human beings, 
a part of God's handiwork in the divine 
scheme of existence. 

If the following pages in any way contrib- 
ute to a better understanding of the race prob- 
lem on the part of any individuals of either 
race, the author's effort will not have been in 
vain, and a positive and distinct service will 
be rendered to mankind. 

We believe that the essence of this whole 
problem and controversy is found in the truth 
of that famous quotation by the late Dr. 
Lyman Abbott: "To deny the brotherhood of 
man is to deny the fatherhood of God." 

The Publishers. 



When Black Meets 

White 

CHAPTER I 
THE "RACE PROBLEM" 

THE most serious problems of society are 
racial. In speaking of the race prob- 
lem in the United States, we mean that which 
pertains to the colored people in relation to 
the white people. This, however, is but a 
small phase of the great, far-reaching, com- 
plex and intricate subject of world wide 
racial complications. 

As far back as we have authentic history, 
the record of the extension of the race into 
time is the story, not of mutual regard, broth- 
erly kindness and co-operation between kin- 
dreds, tongues and tribes, but of jealousies, 
hatreds and destruction, with lines of demar- 
cation ever drawn between strains of blood 
and colors of skin. Not only have the racial 

1 



2 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

groups been arrayed against one another, but 
the races themselves have been divided into 
antagonistic factions ever ready to spring at 
one another's throats. In most human strife 
and contention to a greater or less degree, the 
basic cause is to be found in racial instincts 
and tendencies. 

For some thousands of years previous to 
the Christian era, the Jews, in addition to 
working out their divine destiny, gave much 
of their time to hatred of the Gentiles. For 
nearly two thousand years the Gentiles have 
not neglected to hate the Jews. Christian na- 
tions look with awe upon the Mohammedan 
hosts. Some prophets tell us that the real 
Armageddon to come within the present dec- 
ade, will be a conflict between Christians and 
Mohammedans, the latter to be aided by the 
Mongolians and the extreme radicals of Eu- 
rope. 

The recent world war was between na- 
tions of different strains of Caucasian blood 
and was essentially racial. Racial traditions, 
selfish racial aspirations otherwise known as 
"kultur," nationalism, militarism, imperial- 
ism, commercialism, etc., were the real causes 



THE "RACE PROBLEM" 



of the war; and, with the possible exception 
of the United States, no nation engaged in it 
was entirely free from these unholy motives. 

While in our country so far, Anglo-Saxon 
blood has dominated and Anglo-Saxon 
thought has ruled, America is different from 
every other country because there is no domi- 
nant national type. Aptly has this nation 
been called the " melting pot." Here are be- 
ing blended the bloods of the world. To our 
shores have come the sons and daughters of 
every race, some allured by the prospect of 
freedom and others for the purpose of selfish 
gain. Excepting the Red Indians, all inhab- 
itants of the United States or the near ances- 
tors of all inhabitants were once foreigners. 
All have voluntarily come to America, save 
the Negro race, whose ancestors were brought 
here in bondage. 

Therefore, a real American is not distin- 
guished by color of skin or strain of blood. 
He becomes American, either by birth or, if 
once a foreigner, he undergoes the technical, 
legal process of naturalization. The many 
millions who within the last decade have ob- 
served the latter requisite and, let us hope, the 



4 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

former as more important, together with the 
many more millions, born American citizens, 
constitute the human and the racial element 
of this the greatest, and to become the most 
potent nation of earth in the future. 

Because of this complex racial character of 
American citizenship, the United States must 
immediately deal with the race problem as a 
concrete issue, such as can confront no other 
nation. For the most part, Japan is popu- 
lated by Japanese, China by Chinese, Africa 
by Negroes, India by Indians, Russia by Rus- 
sians, Germany by Germans, France by 
French, Spain by Spaniards, England by 
English, etc., but the United States is popu- 
lated by a mixture of them all, and ultimately 
and inevitably, if the nation long survives, the 
typical American will be the product of these 
blended bloods and amalgamated races. 

Many of us would not have it so, but the 
laws of nature are inexorable. As harvests 
follow seed-times, effects follow causes. 
Racial traditions and provincial prejudices, 
in a land so diversely populated as ours, must 
either perish or else the conflicting elements 
will clash, the Government will cease to f unc- 



THE " RACE PROBLEM 



>> 



tion and the body, politic and social, will col- 
lapse. 

Upon one thing all are agreed ; namely, that 
so-called civilization the world over is im- 
periled. Of course, were humanity really 
civilized, this could not be so. We are con- 
fronted with the tremendous and the imme- 
diately necessary task of making the world, 
not " safe for democracy," but a safe place for 
people to live in. This cannot be accom- 
plished through hortatory preaching or pro- 
hibitive laws. The masses care not to be 
uplifted nor yet to be reformed. The great 
task is to eliminate the prejudices and banish 
hatred from the human heart universal with 
the existence of which, it is impossible 
for love and fraternity to thrive. Civiliza- 
tion is a natural and beautiful thing and will 
flourish like a flower garden where the poison- 
ous growths of envy and hate are destroyed. 
But as long as race hates race, nation hates 
nation, and the churches at best are but 
" friendly enemies," that lofty sentiment of 
the " Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood 
of man" will be impossible of realization. 

The fundamental and terrific hatreds of 



6 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

humanity are racial and national. Personal 
prejudices and hatreds perish with the indi- 
vidual, but racial and national hatreds are 
handed down from generation to generation 
and periodically break forth in raging fury. 

The statement, therefore, that the most seri- 
ous problems of humanity are racial is worthy 
of repetition. As representatives of nations 
sit in council, devising methods of interna- 
tional disarmament, endeavoring to stabilize 
the world's finances, or whatever the questions 
under consideration may be, they are all but 
racial questions under different guises and 
bearing different names. And, before the 
coming of the Golden Age, if come it does, 
this racial hatred must be abolished. Regard- 
less of the blood so recently shed for the wel- 
fare of humanity, so long as flourishes racial 
and international hate, democracy and fra- 
ternity will be impossible. 

Inasmuch as the citizenship of the United 
States is a combination of races, our popula- 
tion is in a sense an epitome of the world, and 
the race problem must first be solved upon 
our own soil before it can be adjusted the 
world over. Demonstration of the theory that 



THE " RACE PROBLEM 



■>■) 



all men are born "free and equal" must first 
be made in the United States, if it is ever made 
anywhere. And we have arrived at the point 
in our national life where this fact must im- 
mediately be recognized and dealt with, or 
our theory of government will soon be exhib- 
ited as a failure. A revival of the American- 
ism of Washington and Lincoln, as the basis 
upon which to build future national success, 
is absolutely essential to our salvation. 



CHAPTER II 

AMERICA INSIDE 

U *T^HE Star of Empire took its Westward 
X course" until it set beyond the Amer- 
ican Continent to rise no more. Beyond our 
western horizon there are no new lands to dis- 
cover, no new worlds to conquer. The last 
great adventure of civilization was in the 
wilds of America. When the builders of this 
Republic carved it from the wilderness, 
wrested it from the savage and consecrated it 
to the cause of freedom, they knew not that 
they were clearing the battle-ground upon 
which, ultimately, would be staged the deci- 
sive conflicts between human theories and 
philosophies, social cults and racial regimes. 
Already, from one struggle in which the 
Status of a race was the main issue, the land 
has been drenched in blood and billowed with 
graves. It remains to be seen whether those 
in the future are to be bloodless victories as 
" Truth goes marching on." 

8 



AMERICA INSIDE 



The American spirit burned in the hearts 
of the founders of the Republic, then thun- 
dered in the Declaration of Independence and 
was enshrined in the Constitution. The 
American Eagle, with keen eyes to observe, 
sharp talons to tear, and spreading wings to 
protect, became the symbol of the Nation, 
quick to punish offenders and offering shelter 
and protection to the oppressed and down- 
trodden from the ends of the earth. And, 
from every quarter of the globe, men, women 
and children have flocked to our shores — the 
numbers increasing in rapid ratio year after 
year. From Europe on the east and Asia on 
the west they came, and from Africa on the 
southeast, they were brought. So huge has 
been this immigration, so rapid the multipli- 
cation of racial strains that, while compared 
with the older nations, we are in years but an 
infant, yet, materially we are the richest, geo- 
graphically the most strategic, ethnologically 
the most complex, and from the viewpoint of 
noblesse oblige, the highest obligated to 
humanity of all the nations of earth. True is 
the saying, " As goes America, so goes the 
world." The Ark of God's Covenant for the 



10 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

welfare of future generations is lodged with 
this people. 

Just now we are in a crisis period of Amer- 
ican history, at a turning point upon which 
the destiny of civilization may be hinged. 

While modern achievement and scientific 
invention with all the material devices of the 
time have made neighbors of all nations, our 
real problems are national, not international; 
internal, not external. Present international 
conditions compel our attention to foreign 
relationships, but if we concern ourselves with 
foreign affairs to the neglect of home affairs, 
we are inviting both national and interna- 
tional disaster. To us just now, "America 
inside" is of greater importance than "Amer- 
ica outside." 

Some one has said, "There is a popular 
superstition that a special Providence takes 
care of idiots, infants and the United States." 
Taking too much for granted is an American 
weakness. We go our way, assuming that 
everything is all right. If there be any real 
dangers, most of us assume that others will 
remedy them. If anything is wrong morally, 
we assume that the preachers and churches 



AMERICA INSIDE 11 

will correct it; if anything is wrong with the 
government, we assume that the law-makers 
and law executives will look after that, while 
we, as individuals, go steadfastly on in quest 
of personal gain or pleasure, as the case may 
be. The future of America is by no means 
safe unless there be a national awakening to 
remedy existing evils and make it secure. 

Looking backward through the centuries, 
we see the earth covered with the dust of em- 
pire; and most of the nations that perished 
were not overcome by " invasion and the hand 
of war," but succumbed to moral corruption 
and internal decay. America need fear no 
foreign foe. It is doubtful whether the com- 
bined powers of the world could invade our 
land and subjugate our people. While we 
take too much for granted, which is a national 
weakness, strange as it may seem with our 
complex makeup, we have a temperamental 
characteristic, in, that, when the note of alarm 
is sounded, the masses as one man will arise 
to defend the ideals, the traditions and the 
freedom of the nation. This was gloriously 
demonstrated in the late war. But immedi- 
ately after such a crisis, we lapse into a state 



12 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

of indifference, even to the low level where 
we forget that there was a war or that we had 
soldier heroes willing and glad to make the 
supreme sacrifice for liberty and for our land. 

The time has come when we must be as alert 
to put forth preventive measures as we are to 
exercise remedial agencies. 

During the recent war, the world passed 
through a period of physical unrest such as 
was never known before. Now, we are in the 
midst of a world wide mental unrest fraught 
with greater danger to civilization than was 
the world war itself. This unrest, generated 
and propagated in Europe and Asia, has 
found its way into our own country. And, 
while America is not so seriously affected as 
are some other nations, we are in grave danger 
because the complex nature of our population 
is a fruitful soil for the seeds of disaster un- 
less those seeds be uprooted and destroyed be- 
fore they have time to take root and grow. If 
we do not Americanize the foreign elements 
among us, eventually, these elements will for- 
eignize America. 

Our present and necessary task is a revival 
of Americanism to harmonize and adjust the 



AMERICA INSIDE 13 



various racial and international elements 
among us to the fundamental principles of the 
Constitution of the United States. Failing in 
this, we must inevitably fall short of our na- 
tional destiny. A new zeit geist in harmony 
with the spirit of our Fathers must be created. 
Without it, our government must fail, for 
public opinion, not in accord with the Con- 
stitution, will render the Constitution of no 
effect Public opinion really is the court of 
final appeal, because patriotic standards are 
fixed and maintained only in the minds and 
consciences of the people as a whole. 

With this task of racial adjustment to the 
principles of Americanism, there comes to us 
as a people a splendid opportunity to be of 
service to the whole world. It is our duty to 
work out, demonstrate and exhibit to the con- 
tending nations of earth the fact that such a 
thing as racial harmony, racial fraternity, and 
racial co-operation is possible. Indeed, if 
universal peace between the races, and world 
wide fraternity among all peoples ever be- 
come a fact, they must first be accomplished 
within America. Has not the All Wise in 
His providence brought this about? Is not 



14 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

the clock of destiny now striking the momen- 
tous hour, when the voices of the races and 
nations represented here, shall be lifted in har- 
mony and unison as United Americans, and 
shall proclaim to the world that in this goodly 
land racial peace is a reality? 

In bringing about this condition of "Amer- 
ica inside," a long stride will have been taken 
towards a complete adjustment of the differ- 
ences between the white man and the Negro. 

In the future, what is going to happen 
"when black meets white?" 

With all of us, both black and white, this 
is the first phase of the race problem. Indeed, 
with most of us, it has been considered the 
race problem. And, while the rest of this 
book is devoted to this particular feature of 
racial relations, it is by no means the most dif- 
ficult racial problem. 

This is true because, per se, the Negro al- 
ways has been an asset, and never a liability 
to this Nation. His fidelity to his masters in 
slavery and his loyalty to his country in free- 
dom have never been questioned. 



CHAPTER III 
MISTAKES OF SOUTH AND NORTH 

BEING a Southerner by birth and early- 
training, a Northerner by long residence 
and, having known the Negro from close ob- 
servation and friendliest contact in both South 
and North ; having studied the psychology of 
the "Old time Negro" as well as that of the 
modern Negro and knowing the varying atti- 
tudes of Southern and Northern white people 
toward the Negro, the writer feels free and 
duty bound to set forth what he regards as 
some serious mistakes on the part of the white 
folk of both sections in their well-meant en- 
deavors to solve the race problem. In this 
connection it goes without saying that in their 
struggles forward and upward, Negroes 
themselves have often blundered. They, how- 
ever, are more excusable for their mistakes 
because they were less capable of looking into 
the future and of devising sane methods of 
procedure than were their white brethren. 

15 



16 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

Considering the previous status of the Negro 
in America, this was to be expected. 

The first and greatest mistake of the South 
in its attitude toward the colored man, a nat- 
ural and inevitable one perhaps, was that after 
the Negro had been set free, the South still 
regarded him as inferior and a servant. 

However, in considering this point, dis- 
crimination is necessary. In a great and com- 
prehensive sense, all men are born free and 
equal, and. in another sense, while all should 
be born free, very few people of any color are 
born equal or remain equal after birth. While 
within the last fifty years, the Negro race in 
'America has vastly improved in mental vigor 
and personal attractiveness, no sane individual 
of either race will dispute the fact of the gen- 
eral average of superiority of the white over 
the black people at the close of the Civil War. 
That superiority still obtains, but in far less 
degree than fifty years ago. 

But to be regarded as inferior just because 
the color of his skin is black and to be kept 
forever in a menial state because his ancestors 
were slaves is a position untenable, illogical, 
unjust and inhuman, upheld by no right law 



MISTAKES OF SOUTH AND NORTH 17 

of man, and at variance with the laws of the 
Maker of us all. This has been the great mis- 
take of the South in its attitude toward the 
Negro, — a natural mistake, of course. It is 
the inevitable result of heredity and environ- 
ment which can be cured only by time. That 
it is being cured there is not a doubt, for the 
present generation in the South is vastly more 
tolerant and considerate of the Negro than 
were the preceding generations. 

On the other hand, with the idea of the 
Negro's servitude always in the fore, the 
South has been and is very kind to him. But, 
as they say, "He must keep in his place." 
Southerners often boast, "We have no race 
riots in the South because the Negro knows 
his place and keeps in it." Indeed, ever since 
the days when many Southern white children 
were nursed by the "black mammy" there 
has been a real affection between those " chil- 
dren" and their "mammies." And in the 
South today, between many of the white and 
colored people there is a loyalty and confi- 
dence unsurpassed by any human relationships 
on earth. 

For many years a colored man has worked 



18 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

with our family in Tennessee. He was a man 
on the farm before our father passed away, 
and ever since has remained with my brother. 
His loyalty and devotion to our family name, 
his watchful care over my brother's children, 
his industrious interest in the farm, his tender 
sympathy in hours when sorrow came, and a 
host of other beautiful traits all combine to 
make him one of the "whitest" men in the 
world. In reminiscent hours, with mind wan- 
dering down the beautiful aisles of memory, 
in thought again at home with Father and 
Mother, Abe is there. He meets us at the 
depot, or he opens the big gate for us to drive 
in, and it's always, "Howdy-do, Mister John? 
— I certainly am glad to see you." Yet, Abe 
is a Negro, and until it is destroyed there will 
exist between him and the "white folks' he 
loves and who love him, that false sentiment 
which stamps him as inferior and a servant. 
This very mistake on the part of the South, 
however, in a sense, has been a blessing to the 
colored people. One of the noblest virtues 
within the breast of mankind is humility. It 
beautifies and strengthens the individual pos- 
sessing it and brings undying glory to the race 



MISTAKES OF SOUTH AND NORTH 19 

or nation practicing it. The debasement en- 
forced upon the Negro during slavery and the 
resultant humility from a lower social stratum 
will ultimately earn for him a high place in 
the scale of human excellencies. Christ 
"emptied Himself, taking the form of a 
servant." He said, "Whosoever would be 
first among you, shall be servant of all." To 
set before His disciples an example of humil- 
ity, Jesus humbled himself and washed their 
feet, the most menial duty of a household 
servant. The great poet-prophet, Isaiah, pic- 
turing the way that leads to exaltation, sang: 
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
their strength; they shall mount up with 
wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be 
weary; they shall walk, and not faint." The 
prophet certainly herein meant service to 
humanity and its consequent rewards. 

By "keeping the Negro in his place" the 
good people of the South unwittingly have 
placed him in the position most conducive to 
gathering strength to fight upward to his real 
place in the ultimate harmonious association 
of the children of men. 

The second mistake of the South relative 



20 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



to the Negro, now happily disappearing, was 
that of assuming his position to be menial and 
that it would always remain so. Being so 
close to him, the South may be unconscious 
of the actual advancement of the Negro. 
Some day this advancement will overlap the 
line of demarcation between the white man 
and the Negro, and unless the white man's 
vision is sufficiently broadened to look beyond 
that boundary line, he, and he alone, will be 
the loser. 

Among the encouraging signs of the times 
indicative of the early solution of the race 
problem is the fact that in the South many of 
the leading white men and women are chang- 
ing their attitude toward the Negro race. 

Nothing is so significant in this direction 
as the organization of what is known as the 
Inter-Racial Commission, which represents a 
movement on the part of high-minded South- 
ern white men and women to cooperate with 
the best men and women of the Negro race in 
an effort to secure for every group of society 
equal opportunity and every right and priv- 
ilege to which every American citizen is en- 
titled. 



MISTAKES OF SOUTH AND NORTH 21 



In a recent conversation with Dr. Robert 
R. Moton, the Principal of Tuskegee Insti- 
tute, that great leader and educator said that 
in his opinion the outlook for justice and fair 
play for the Negro in the South has never 
been more promising than it is today, and that 
there are aspects in the development of the 
situation that have gone far beyond his expec- 
tations. In every direction, he says, there is 
to be observed a marked improvement in the 
attitude of Southern white people toward the 
Negro, which is reflected in economic condi- 
tions, in educational advantages, in traveling 
facilities, in civic improvement and also in the 
matter of the ballot. The significant thing 
is that white people and black people in the 
South are now meeting one another face to 
face in a frank and temperate discussion of 
the various problems that affect their com- 
mon welfare, and the result is a better under- 
standing on both sides of the question and a 
larger measure of confidence and good will 
toward each other. With this result attained, 
the rest will come without great difficulty or 
undue delay. 

Such an opinion from so distinguished a 



22 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

source must carry much weight and will be 
hailed with delight by all people throughout 
the nation who desire to see full harmony and 
cooperation between the two races. 

Both the North and the South have made 
mistakes in dealing with the Negro. Ever 
since the Civil War the North has indulged 
in much silly sentiment and has been engaged 
in much light talk about "social equality." 
The North advanced, but never practiced the 
theory that " the Negro is as good as the white 



man." 



No sooner was the Negro freed than the ill- 
advised and over-zealous advocates in the 
North began to clamor for a recognition of 
and a position for the Negro, for which he 
was in no sense prepared. Poor and be- 
nighted, the black man in the South dreamed 
and talked about " Negro heaven up North." 
Naturally, many of them, and, with the years, 
more and more of them migrated to the 
North, a great many to disappointment, for, 
in many instances, they found hell instead of 
heaven. They found those willing to receive 
them upon the basis of social equality, those 
who regarded them as good as anybody else, 



MISTAKES OF SOUTH AND NORTH 23 



were few and far between. Of course, there 
were exceptions to this, but as a rule his foot- 
ing in the North was the same as in the South, 
except for the old time feeling of sympathy 
and affection between the two races in the 
South, — a feeling which undoubtedly the 
North can never hold, because it is the 
product of a type and a time now gone for- 
ever. 

However, to their very great credit, cling- 
ing steadfastly to a conviction, hosts of colored 
people have been eminently successful in the 
North. By sheer ability and tenacity they 
have overcome many obstacles, and in every 
walk of life have made names for them- 
selves and have attained positions creditable 
to any race anywhere. But this success is due, 
not to the fact that the South has held them 
inferior or the North equal to the white man, 
but because they have been able to demon- 
strate by character and mentality their ability 
to attain, and their fitness to hold eminent 
positions. And, despite his social status, the 
Negro has achieved quite as high a degree of 
intellectuality in the South as he has in the 
North. His great colleges, universities, and 



24 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

other splendid institutions in the South bear 
out the statement. We must, however, give 
credit to Northern initiative in making this 
intellectual success possible in the South. 

The North has been wrong in assuming 
that, as a section of the country, it is more 
competent and better fitted to solve the race 
problem than the South. The North has had 
opportunity to demonstrate its ability in this 
direction but has failed. The North has not 
been altogether sincere with the Negro. The 
Negro accepted the North's overtures at full 
face value, came here to make good, and after 
having made sufficient success to enable him 
to take his place among property owners, the 
North promptly began to throw bombs under 
his house and to demand his segregation. 
When the Negro's presence began to interfere 
with the business and to depreciate property 
values of the Northern white man, the Negro 
at once became persona non grata. 

The race problem is not sectional, and both 
the North and the South greatly err in so re- 
garding it. As the writer sees it, the kindly 
feeling of the South toward the Negro is gen- 
uine, and it only needs to dispossess itself of 
an erroneous sentiment relative to the colored 



MISTAKES OF SOUTH AND NORTH 25 

people's being intended only for a lowly posi- 
tion in life. With the mind of the South freed 
from this erroneous sentiment, the colored 
race will advance in that clime as nowhere 
else on earth. The North must make good its 
long held position of a generous attitude 
toward the Negro and must not discriminate 
against him as it has so often done recently. 
When both sections of our country adjust their 
false attitudes toward the colored race, the last 
vestige of the old sectional feeling will have 
been destroyed, and the race question will be 
a national, and not a sectional issue. Then, 
it will naturally and easily work out its own 
solution. Then, the Negro will hold his place 
in the complexity of racial strains which con- 
stitute American citizenship. And, when 
unhampered and unembarrassed by racial 
prejudices, his previous advancement will be 
as nothing compared with his future achieve- 
ments. 

The most serious and difficult phase of the 
race problem lies not with the Negro himself, 
but with the white man both North and South, 
who heretofore, as a rule, has not considered 
his own erroneous position a barrier in the 
way of its quick solution. 



CHAPTER IV 
PSYCHOLOGY OF THE NEGRO 

FEW words are more misused than psy- 
chology. Of late it has come into very 
common usage. Liberal learning is affected by 
many untrained minds in oft repeating the 
word psychology. The psychology of this, 
that, and the other has been bandied about so 
much between would-be "high-brows" who 
know nothing of this, the noblest of all 
sciences, that one who takes it seriously must 
approach it with fear and trembling. 

Psychology is clearly defined as " the sci- 
ence that treats of mental phenomena, and 
their classification and analysis; it is mental 
philosophy, metaphysics." The psychology 
of a race is as much higher than its physical 
characteristics, color of skin, etc., as mind is 
over matter, as soul is superior to body. While 
the physical man is "fearfully and wonder- 
fully made," it is the mental and spiritual man 
that is in the "image and likeness of God," 

26 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE NEGRO 27 



co-existent with Him. Not as he appears in 
his material body, but "As a man thinketh in 
his heart, so is he." 

The highest credit should be given to phys- 
icists who have done and are doing so much 
for the material regeneration of the human 
race. Through their efforts mortal diseases 
and physical pains are vanishing like the 
phantom hosts of the night, and with each 
generation the longevity of the race is being 
perceptibly lengthened. But at best our ex- 
istence in the mortal body is " a tale quickly 
told," " a brief span," " a fitful fever and tran- 
sient dream." How unworthy then, of a noble 
mind, to form its estimates of an individual 
and of a race from the outward appearance 
of the material body! The mortal frames of 
slaves and masters of the ante-bellum days 
have returned to dust, and only their minds 
and spirits live, eternally indistinguishable by 
the color of the house in which they had but 
brief earthly abode. Very limited is the 
vision and unworthy the purpose of those who 
do not see beneath the colored exterior of a 
great race; measuring, estimating and desig- 
nating its powers, possibilities and true posi- 



28 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

tion in society by sounding the depths of its 
soul, rather than by superficially scanning its 
exterior. 

Comprehensively, the solution of the race 
problem lies almost solely within the psy- 
chology of the two races involved. What they 
know about each other, what they think of 
and feel toward each other must determine 
their respective attitudes. To know in their 
entirety the mental capacities and processes 
of the white and colored races relative to each 
other, and to be able to clearly set them forth 
is a task too great to undertake here. Were 
we able to do so, much more space than this 
entire volume would be required. At best, 
we can but offer some hints and suggestions 
which may be helpful in pointing the way 
toward the open road to understanding. 

The psychology of a race involves its pow- 
ers of perception, reason, imagination, emo- 
tion, humor, grief, joy, intuition, memory, etc., 
together with the capacity of mental develop- 
ment from the combined exercise of all these 
faculties. The psychological proportions of 
a race are determined by its susceptibility to 
education. And, judging from the rapid 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE NEGRO 29 



strides made along educational lines within 
the last fifty years, psychologically speaking, 
Negroes are an unusual people. 

To appreciate this, it is necessary, however, 
to differentiate between the external process 
of imparting information, regarded by some 
as education, and that of the internal develop- 
ment, the leading out into a larger measure, 
of the innate powers of being. Few races in 
the history of the world have revealed such 
possibilities of education in the true sense as 
has the Negro in America, since his liberation 
from bondage. 

In speaking of educated people it is neces- 
sary to distinguish between those who have 
gathered a vast fund of information, technical 
and otherwise, and those truly educated by 
the development of mental faculties. But in 
both the lesser and larger senses the Negro 
has demonstrated his susceptibility of educa- 
tion. It has been my good fortune to meet 
some colored men who are gentlemen in all 
that the word implies. These men are of dif- 
ferent shades of color — some almost white, 
some about equally mixed, and some entirely 
black — but with all, the evidences of genuine 



30 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

' '*^^— *^— ' l -■■ ■ ■ ■ . . ■ — - ■ - ■ ■!■■■ I ■ ■ % 

culture are very distinct. Among them are 
successful business men, and men of the 
learned professions, all of whom can easily 
hold their own and successfully measure 
lances with any average group of white men 
in the same walks of life. They are grad- 
uated from our great universities of both races. 
Lawyers, physicians, ministers, professors, 
engineers, philosophers, business men; all 
refined, cultivated, modest, as are the truly 
great everywhere; profoundly interested and 
devoutly concerned in the welfare and prog- 
ress, not only of the colored race, but of society 
as a whole. And because of compulsory edu- 
cation in the public schools of the land, the 
general average of education among the col- 
ored people, in proportion to the population, 
is as high as among the white people. That 
the colored race is psychologically endowed 
with mental faculties susceptible of high de- 
velopment no honest and well informed indi- 
vidual will dispute. The psychology of no 
other race is more interesting or of greater 
consequence than that of the Negro. 

Negroes, as a class, possess average intelli- 
gence. Though the word intelligence has no 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE NEGRO 31 



place in psycho-analysis, save as a mark of 
the general average of combined mental 
phases and powers, the unusual development 
of some psychological characteristics among 
Negroes gives them a high grade of intelli- 
gence. 

In the powers of sentiment and emotion, 
the Negro excels. Among Americans gen- 
erally, in recent years there has been a deca- 
dence of these fine qualities. Yet they are 
mental qualities without which no nation can 
long survive. 

What is sentiment? 

Sentiment, in the sense meant to be con- 
veyed here, is thought prompted by deep feel- 
ing. It may be more fanciful than logical, 
yet it gives the finest flavor and lends the rich- 
est color to life. Nothing can transform the 
commonplace into the unusual, poetic and 
beautiful, as does sentiment. Take, for in- 
stance, our country's flag: In absence of all 
sentiment, it is but a piece of white bunting 
daubed with red and blue— that is all. But 
in the thought of true Americans, sentiment 
makes it the sweetest emblem ever unfurled 
to the breeze and kissed by the sunlight of 



32 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

heaven. Our Savior's cross: Two rough, 
transverse beams of wood set at right angles, — 
this is all, in the mind of the materialist. But 
Christian sentiment makes it the symbol of 
salvation — at once the emblem of the 
Savior's suffering and our passport to eternal 
life. There is no limit to what sentiment does, 
and if we banished all of it from ordinary life 
this world would be a dark, uninteresting and 
dreary place. 

The psychological value of sentiment as 
characteristic of a people lies in the fact that 
when moved by it, the masses are easily in- 
fluenced to attempt and achieve great things. 
In fact, it is practically impossible to move 
great numbers en masse without appealing to 
their sentiment. This is true because the in- 
dividual units composing a nation, for in- 
stance, can never be made to think alike. The 
few leaders of a nation never think alike, but 
they love alike and hate alike. 

Leading up to and during the great war, 
Democratic and Republican leaders of the 
nation apparently did not see alike or think 
alike, — at times most cordially hating each 
other, but patriotic sentiment unified both 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE NEGRO 33 

leaders and people, fired them with almost 
super-human fervor and sustained them in the 
accomplishment of the most gigantic task ever 
undertaken by mortals. Sentiment did it. 
Cold reasoning could never have done it. 

Cool, calculating, analytical, deliberate 
methods, divorced from sentiment, never go 
far in a crisis. They are more destructive 
than constructive. Of course, from the view- 
point of material utility, sentiment often blun- 
ders, is extravagant and wasteful. After the 
war was over and the sentimental fervor of 
the nation had cooled, the people seemed to 
forget that we had heroic soldiers and that 
we had been engaged in war. Did not one 
political party continually remind us of the 
mistakes made by another political party dur- 
ing the war, we should rarely ever hear of it. 

One of the present dangers to Americanism 
lies in our materialistic trend. Nothing short 
of a national calamity or crisis seems to 
awaken the American people and launch them 
upon great waves of sentimental enthusiasm 
for any cause or thing. Unless very early 
there be a re-birth of the sentiment of the 
founders of the Republic, a far-reaching re- 



34 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

vival of the Americanism of our fathers, the 
future of our country will be imperiled. This 
cannot be done without an awakening of sen- 
timent. 

The most fertile soil for a luxuriant growth 
of sentiment is within the breast of the Negro 
of America, because, psychologically, he is 
pre-eminently sentimental. 

What is emotion? 

Emotion is akin to sentiment, — agitated 
feeling, excited sentiment. 

Psychologically, Negroes as a class are far 
more emotional than white people. The emo- 
tional and worshipful phases of religion are 
highly developed among colored people. 
They are more responsive to real oratory and 
emotional preaching than are their white 
brethren, and therefore are more responsive 
to real oratory than is the average audience 
of other races. 

It was a sad day for religion in America, 
and in the world, when emotional preaching 
found little response. Nothing so indicates 
the present dearth of spirituality as the fact 
that people in large measure go to church to 
be entertained rather than to worship; that 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE NEGRO 35 



the modern minister must compete with 
secular entertainers if he succeeds; that the 
modern church is a "plant" rather than a 
temple for divine worship. 

All this is true because sentiment and emo- 
tion are absent from the hearts of the people 
in this day of cold materialism. The Negro 
is a valuable asset to American society be- 
cause with him both sentiment and emotion 
are natural psychological elements. 

Possessing sentiment and emotion, the Ne- 
gro is of artistic temperament. Within his 
half century of physical freedom, it has been 
impossible for him to contribute much to the 
fine arts. His artistic efforts have been largely 
in music, but he has shown aptitude for 
poetry, and the other arts as well. But in 
music, he has himself created, or others from 
his experience and life have created, most that 
is distinctively American. And as for sing- 
ing, the Italians in all their glory have never 
shone more brilliantly than will the colored 
people when they shall have had full oppor- 
tunity to develop their artistic and vocal 
powers. 

A peculiar mental faculty of the Negro ren- 



36 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

ders him, perhaps, the most imitative of the 
human species. This characteristic has 
sometimes been remarked with a tinge of deri- 
sion; but if, as has been said, " imitation is the 
sincerest form of flattery," this attitude of the 
colored people toward other races has been 
one of engaging grace rather than an indica- 
tion of mental weakness. Granting that the 
imitative, along with many other human char- 
acteristics, is inherited from our remote an- 
cestors, the monkeys and apes, its practical 
utility in all forms of progress is none the less 
emphatic. That individual who refuses to 
imitate any one who has excelled in any line 
of endeavor is doomed to remain stationary, 
if not to retrograde. We learn to practice 
good manners by imitating the cultivated. We 
learn to do anything well by imitation of 
those who have already approximated perfec- 
tion. An old book, one of the greatest ever 
written, perennial through centuries past and 
destined to live for centuries to come, is 
Thomas a Kempis' "Imitation of Christ." 

To imitate successfully, one must closely 
observe. If Negroes have been good imitators, 
they have necessarily been good observers, the 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE NEGRO 37 

recognition of which, upon the part of others, 
is a large concession and a high compliment 
to the mental alertness of the race. 

To Mr. Alexander Graham Bell's "Rule 
of Three" for self-education, "Observe! Re- 
member! Compare!" might be added, "Imi- 
tate," for in progress, imitation is the in- 
evitable consequence of observation, memory 
and comparison. In the days of slavery, and 
for some years afterward, this was practically 
the only way of educating himself available 
to the Negro. But fortunately for him, he 
was a close observer of the white aristocracy 
of the South, a civilization in its day and of 
its kind, never surpassed and seldom equalled 
in the annals of history. In that day and gen- 
eration the colored people of the South, by 
observing and imitating the cultivated white 
people, became a type quite as distinct and in- 
teresting as was the white aristocracy. And 
not only did the Negro learn from the white 
people, but so indelibly did he stamp some 
of his own distinct characteristics upon the 
white race that they are perceptible until this 
day. The beautiful southern accent, of which 



38 



WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



all children of the South are so justly proud, 
is largely a heritage from the Negro. 

That the Negro is psychologically strong, 
that he is susceptible of education both in the 
sense of acquiring vast and detailed informa- 
tion and of the high development of innate 
mental faculties, no honest and well-informed 
individual can dispute. 



CHAPTER V 
THE NEGRO IN HISTORY 

IN the race toward the goal of great achieve- 
ment in history, the black man has been 
out-distanced by other colors, particularly by 
the white man. 

This fact has been used as an argument 
against the natural fitness of the Negro to 
keep pace with other races in the progress of 
civilization. Previous to and soon after the 
beginning of the Christian era, in their sea- 
sons, great civilizations, in which Negroes 
had only a fragmentary part, developed and 
thrived in the regions around the Mediter- 
ranean. But subsequent facts have demon- 
strated that the Negro is capable of playing 
well his part in a constructive and progres- 
sive civilization, clearly indicating that his 
earlier shortcomings were due to external con- 
ditions — not to mental incapacity. 

The real Negro race was not originally 
African. The first known inhabitants of the 

39 



40 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

territory in Africa beyond Egypt and the 
Great Desert were Bushmen, a yellow peo- 
ple. According to the best authority Negroes 
of known history are descendants from Ham, 
one of the sons of Noah. They obeyed the 
injunction to "multiply and replenish the 
earth," and did their part in populating the 
ancient world. They attained their highest 
development in Ethiopia. They became the 
chief inhabitants of the " Dark Continent," 
and, cut off from the rest of the world, lapsed 
into a more or less barbaric state in which 
they remained until recent years. 

Descendants of Ham, however, if we are to 
class the great body of "colored" people as 
such, were not in habitation limited to the 
above mentioned territories. They were scat- 
tered, in some places thinly, of course, all over 
the then known world. One of the great di- 
visions of language, the Hamitic, attributed to 
this race, became rich in treasure of thought 
and expression. 

Throughout the long benighted state of the 
Negro race in Africa, there were natural rea- 
sons for its non-development. For more than 
a score of centuries, no enlightening agencies 



THE NEGRO IN HISTORY 41 

entered that vast domain from without. 
Africa has been called the " Dark Continent" 
for the fanciful reason of the color of its pop- 
ulation and, of course, the dark mental state 
of its people. Otherwise, Africa, particularly 
that part occupied by Negroes, is by nature 
one of the brightest lands on earth. The 
beauty of tropical luxuriance is to be seen on 
every hand. Food is plentifully provided — 
fish in the streams, game in the forests, fruits 
and plants bending to be plucked. The na- 
tives are entirely comfortable when "clad 
only in climate. " The elements are conducive 
to physical serenity and the propagation of the 
species. Everything was conducive to the de- 
velopment of physique and extension of lon- 
gevity, but not the growth of mentality. 

Any other race with the same previous his- 
tory and in the same circumstances would 
have remained in the same condition. In our 
own country, in the hills, mountains and back- 
woods, people of Anglo-Saxon extraction, of 
as fine physique as may be found anywhere, 
are of low mental development. In a climate 
where they did not have to battle with the ele- 
ments, nor struggle for existence, they would 



42 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

not be far above the Negroes of Africa, espe- 
cially after the lapse of twenty centuries. 

The average citizen of America knows little 
of the Negro in history. We think of the race 
as having its origin in Africa, and that Africa 
is still inhabited by Negroes. We know that 
Negroes were brought here in bondage, and for 
a long time were kept in bondage. We know 
that they w r ere liberated by the victory of the 
Union forces in the civil war, through the 
proclamation of President Lincoln. We know 
that for fifty-five years they have been striv- 
ing to make progress and struggling for a 
place and position in American affairs and 
American society, with, as we feel, but small 
degree of success, — if indeed we have any 
feeling at all in the matter. This is true of 
white people in America, as a class, and also 
is true of many Negroes themselves. 

But we have arrived at a time when this in- 
different and erroneous attitude can no longer 
be sustained. The present progress of civili- 
zation makes it impossible. From the law of 
cause and effect, out of the past and present 
must inevitably come, in the making of fu- 
ture history, a fixed position for the Negro. 






THE NEGRO IN HISTORY 43 

Not only did the Negro as a race figure in the 
beginnings of recorded history, but as a race, 
he has loomed large upon the horizon of the 
immediate past. If we will, let us admit that 
for twenty centuries the Negro race played 
only a small part in the known affairs of the 
world, but we are not justified in assuming 
that this race must have a small part in the 
affairs of world humanity in the future. This 
is pre-eminently the Changing Age. Greater 
change has been wrought in the thought and 
affairs of humanity within the last decade than 
within the entire previous century. We are 
in the crisis period when society as a whole 
must unify and solidify or it will disintegrate. 
From out the past comes the voice of the 
Negro, audible in the babel of the present, — 
the voice of the race as a whole and the voice 
of many outstanding individuals. It is a mis- 
take to assume that no Negro personages have 
figured in history. The sons and daughters 
of Ham became a power to be reckoned with 
during the days of the Egyptian dynasties. 
An Ethiopian conqueror from the Upper Nile 
founded the XXVth Dynasty, which was over- 
thrown by Esarhaddon in the year 680 B. C. 



44 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



That in Ethiopia there was a conqueror of 
sufficient strength and enough force behind 
him to overrun Egypt and found a foreign 
dynasty is evidence that they were a people 
of no mean ability. Ethiopia was settled by 
Cush, the son of Ham. Today scholars gen- 
erally concede that the Queen of Sheba who 
made the famous visit to King Solomon was 
a Negress. Since that event the name and 
fame of the regal black beauty have remained 
undimmed. 

Some famous white men in ancient history 
were married to Negro women. Moses, the 
Deliverer, — Moses of unparalleled fame, — 
to whom God thundered the Commandments 
on Sinai, whose life, from the time Pharaoh's 
'daughter rescued him from the bullrushes 
until his burial by the hand of God on Nebo's 
lonely heights, was one supreme thrill after 
another, was married to a Negress, the black 
daughter of Jethro. Jezebel, the wicked wife 
of Ahab, King of Israel, was the colored 
daughter of Ethball, the Negro king of Zido- 
ma. The eunuch of New Testament fame, 
baptized by Phillip, unquestionably was a 
Negro. 



THE NEGRO IN HISTORY 45 



About the year 550 A. D., Antara ben She- 
dad el Absi (Antar the Lion) was born of 
an Arab noble father, and an Abyssinian slave 
mother. He became a noted personage in 
Arabic and Mohammedan literature. He 
was also a great warrior. Some claim that he 
was the father of knighthood. " The Romance 
®f Antar" ranks as a great national classic. 

Another Negro in literature was Juan La- 
tino, born in Northern Africa about the XVth 
Century, captured by Spanish traders and sold 
to the family of Gonzalo de Cordova at Se- 
ville. He studied along with his young mas- 
ter and became learned. He was set free and 
became a professor of Latin and Greek at the 
University of Granada. His mortal remains 
lie in the Church of St. Ann, Granada, and 
upon his tomb is the inscription: "Juan was 
an excellent Latin poet." 

Pushkin, most renowned poet of Russia, 
(1799-1837) of noble Moscow family, was 
part Negro from a paternal ancestor. Most 
famous of all the literati, possessing Negro 
blood, were the two Dumas — Alexander Pere 
and Alexander Fils, of France. The father 
of Dumas the elder was Alexander Davy de- 



46 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

la Pailleterie Dumas, a distinguished general 
under Napoleon I. The General's father was 
a wealthy colonist in Haiti, Marquis Alex- 
ander Davy de la Pailleterie, and his mother 
was a Negro woman of Haiti from whom the 
General took the name Dumas. Thus the 
name by which the world's most universally 
read story-teller is known, came from a Ne- 
gress, as did much of his ability and not a lit- 
tle of his personal appearance. 

These few distinguished names out of for- 
mer times and in foreign lands have been 
mentioned as illustrative of the Negro's racial 
capacity to do great things in history when 
conditions are favorable. But as before men- 
tioned, for long centuries the Negro race was 
cut off from the world association necessary 
to mental growth and racial culture. With 
the permanent passing of the Egyptian dy- 
nasties, the subsequent rule of Alexander the 
Great, the successive rules of Greeks, Romans, 
Arabs, Turks, and British, the inhabitants of 
inner Africa were disconnected from the outer 
world from the beginning of the Christian 
era down to the nineteenth century. In such 
circumstances how could a benighted people 



THE NEGRO IN HISTORY 47 



develop so as to play any important role in 
the general making of world history? 

Yet this same race was destined in the nine- 
teenth century to be the central figure, the 
bone of contention as it were, in one of the 
greatest wars so far in the history of the world. 
The settlement of that controversy, the win- 
ning of that war which meant the liberation 
of Negro slaves in America, marked a tre- 
mendous stride in the progress of civilization. 
That the Negro was the subject of so much 
discussion, that his freedom was bought with 
so great a price, placed him at a point of van- 
tage which at once was one of the most re- 
nowned in the annals of mankind, — one for 
which he and his could well afford to suffer 
and await the fulfillment of a rich future re- 
ward. 

The vital period of Negro history is not 
ancient, but modern; not in foreign countries, 
but in America. Since its discovery more 
people have crossed the seas to America than 
to any other quarter of the globe. More peo- 
ple have come here "to stay" than have gone 
to and remained in any other land. With 
varied purposes and myriad emotions, many 



48 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

millions have approached these shores. In 
quest of Liberty and Opportunity most of 
them came. 

The gloriously statued " Liberty Enlighten- 
ing the World," holding aloft the Torch of 
Freedom, gives welcome to the down-trodden 
and oppressed of earth as they enter New 
York harbor. The ideals, traditions and ac- 
tualities of Freedom lend to the United States 
of America a distinction unapproached by any 
other nation. Yet, as one of the world fam- 
ily of governments, upon our escutcheon there 
is a stain that never can be removed and which 
only an absolute and unending justice to a once 
oppressed and enslaved people in a measure 
can atone. The bondage and servitude of Ne- 
groes in America is the one blot upon our fair 
name. In Colonial days, and from the found- 
ing of the Republic until the Emancipation 
by President Lincoln, Negroes were brought 
here from other lands and sold into slavery, 
without one ray of hope for the enjoyment 
of boasted American liberty. 

With reference to time, the greater part 
of Negro history in America is that of slavery. 
There were slaves in America before the Pil- 



THE NEGRO IN HISTORY 49 

grim Fathers landed upon the Rock of Ply- 
mouth. According to best accounts, the first 
Negroes sold into slavery in America were 
landed from a Dutch vessel at Jamestown, 
Virginia, December 22, 1620. So rapidly did 
the number of slaves increase, both from birth 
and importation, that by November 30, 1782, 
when Great Britain conceded the independ- 
ence of the United States, whose population 
then was less than three million souls, half 
a million, more than one-sixth of the entire 
number, were Negro slaves. The number of 
slaves increased in proportionate ratio until 
the time of their liberation. 

The history of slavery in America has been 
written again and again. There is little rea- 
son for discussing it in this book, for there 
is nothing to be gained by opening old sores 
and reviving old hatreds and prejudices. The 
sooner Negroes forget that their ancestors 
were slaves, the sooner white people forget 
that their ancestors enslaved, and the sooner 
that living Negroes are treated as freemen in 
the fullest sense, the better it will be for all. 

Sound hearts and logical minds cannot 
" look down " upon Negroes because their for- 



50 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

bears were slaves, for slavery was more de- 
grading to the masters and to white society 
than it was to the colored people. To the slave- 
holders, the evils of slave-holding were 
greater than to the slaves themselves. The 
enslavers did not realize that the bonds around 
the slaves also encircled the limbs of the mas- 
ters. The degradation of both was unspeak- 
able. 

"Jove fixed it certain, that whatever day 
Makes man a slave, takes half his worth away." 

However, in many instances, the human ele- 
ment entered into the relationships between 
the whites and blacks, master and slave. By 
no means were all slave-holders mentally and 
physically degraded, save as the system as a 
whole degraded all connected with it. While 
the system itself was corrupt, many individ- 
uals having part in it were genuinely con- 
cerned about the moral, mental and physical 
welfare of their slaves. There was affection- 
ate regard between many of the white and col- 
ored people. Advantages of education and 
religious training were extended to many Ne- 
groes. But as a whole, the vicious system was 
entirely degrading, and under it, the Negro 



THE NEGRO IN HISTORY 51 



in America could make no progress, looking 
to and hoping for the enjoyment vouchsafed 
by God Almighty to all His creatures. 

The most consequential thing that has hap- 
pened to the Negro in all his history has been 
the mixing of white blood with his own. For 
the most part, the white man has been respon- 
sible for the mixing. There was more of it 
during slavery than there has been since. 
While shocking to existing standards of mo- 
rality, it remains to be seen whether in the long 
run this mixing of bloods was for good or 
evil. 

Though brought here in servitude, though 
contemptuously held and despised of men, the 
Negro has loomed large upon the horizon of 
this land. He was the actual subject of con- 
tention in one of the great wars of history. His 
subsequent place in society has challenged the 
best thought of the time. His necessity to the 
economic welfare of the nation is well estab- 
lished. Despite tremendous difficulties, his 
ability to forge ahead is thoroughly recog- 
nized. His self-mastery and maintenance of 
self-respect pay commanding tribute to his in- 
herent worth. 

All this demonstrated by the Negro in 



52 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



America and the greater part of it within 
the last fifty years, is but an earnest of what 
he is destined to be and to accomplish in the 
future. 

A race, a people, like the individual, must 
lay the foundation quietly, deeply, before 
rearing a permanent and commanding super- 
structure. Some of the greatest men are lit- 
tle heard of before the crucial time or the psy- 
chological moment arrives for them to be seen 
in bold relief before the vision of the world. 
When the occasion arises for the man and the 
hour to meet, the great are ready. So it is 
with peoples. Long years of slavery were not 
without value to the Negro. Through humil- 
ity he developed soul qualities which for 
many years to come will be of great value to 
him. During the brief period of his freedom, 
he has worked quietly and has accomplished 
much. He has achieved far more than the 
uninformed ever dreamed was possible. Con- 
sidering the point from which he started, few 
other races have ever accomplished so much 
within so short a time. 

For 2,000 years when other races were mak- 
ing history, the wheels of fortune turned ad- 



THE NEGRO IN HISTORY 53 

versely for the Negro. But in the middle of 
the nineteenth century the clock of destiny 
struck his appointed hour, and since that time 
he, too, has been a maker of history. Within 
fifty years in America, the Negro has achieved 
more and advanced further than he did dur- 
ing the previous nineteen centuries. The na- 
tion as a whole would be astonished and 
thrilled by a full knowledge of what Negroes 
in America have wrought within the half cen- 
tury of their freedom. 



CHAPTER VI 
A HALF CENTURY OF PROGRESS 

ONE of the most agreeably surprising 
publications in the United States is the 
"Negro Year Book/' an " Annual Encyclo- 
pedia of the Negro," by Prof. Monroe N. 
Work, Director of the Department of Rec- 
ords and Research, Tuskegee Normal and In- 
dustrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama. This 
book most engagingly sets forth, in compre- 
hensive scope and exhaustive detail, the his- 
tory and achievements of the Negro in every 
walk of life. 

With such authentic information at hand 
one is tempted to go into detail in recording 
a half century of the Negro's progress, but 
to do so is impossible, for several times more 
space than this entire volume would be re- 
quired. To turn the more or less statistical 
facts of the Year Book into narrative form, 
were it permissible, would be a fascinating 
task. 

54 



A HALF CENTURY OF PROGRESS 55 



The purpose must be served here by noting 
the starting points and marking the advance- 
ments attained at the end of the period. Fifty 
and five years have passed since the Negro 
was set free. Naturally, at that time he had 
little of anything but himself. 

In the progression of life, people achieve 
along many lines, all of which may be clas- 
sified in three main divisions, viz., Economic, 
Educational and Religious. 

Under the Economic head, the first men- 
tioned, but lowest in the scale of importance, 
may be the sub-classifications of "owning 
property," " carrying on business" and " accu- 
mulating wealth." But judged by the spirit 
of modern times and the trend of this material 
age, the economic is the all-important phase 
of life. 

Whatever its relative importance, Negroes 
in America have made a remarkable showing. 
In 1866, they owned 12,000 homes in the 
United States; in 19 19, they owned 600,000 
homes. At the beginning of the period, they 
operated 20,000 farms; after 53 years, they 
were operating 1,000,000 farms. In 1866, Ne- 
groes possessed in wealth, $20,000,000; in 



56 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



1919, they were worth $1,100,000,000. Com- 
pared with the economic increase among 
white people, these figures, of course, are 
small; but considering the Negro's lack of 
opportunity and the obstacles he had to over- 
come, they are no less than staggering. 

Upon investigation, we find that the col- 
ored race has successfully operated in every 
branch of productive endeavor and business 
industry. In farming, real estate, manufac- 
turing, professional practice, finance and 
every phase of trade and traffic they have 
demonstrated the ability that succeeds. There 
are nearly 6,000,000 Negroes in the United 
States 10 years of age and over in gainful oc- 
cupation. Excluding some 15,000 boarding 
and lodging house keepers, there are in our 
country more than 50,000 Negroes owning 
and operating successful businesses. 

While necessarily the currents and cross- 
currents of business mix and mingle, the color 
line tending to yield to the inducements of 
trade, Negro business through its leaders is 
organized. The National Negro Business 
League was organized in Boston in 1900. Its 
purpose is to stimulate and increase Negro 



A HALF CENTURY OF PROGRESS 57 



business enterprises. There are many State 
Negro Business Leagues, with many more 
Chartered Local Leagues, in all comprising 
many hundreds of active business organiza- 
tions. 

In 1919, there were 72 Negro banks, cap- 
italized at $2,500,000, and doing an annual 
business of about $35,000,000. 

EDUCATION 

Education is always the true measure of 
progress. From this viewpoint, the advance- 
ment of the Negro has been even greater than 
from the standpoint of economics. 

In 1866, 90% of the colored population was 
illiterate; in 1919 only 20% was illiterate, a 
gain of 70% in literacy in fifty years. At this 
rate of improvement, it is a question of but 
little time when there will be practically no 
illiteracy among Negroes in America. 

Negro education is by no means limited to 
grammar school courses, but proportionately 
measures up to the higher standards of aca- 
demic, vocational, college, and professional 
training. 



58 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

When they were liberated, Negroes had 
only 15 colleges and normal schools; but 
now, they have 500. Then they had 100,000 
students in public schools; now, they have 
1,800,000. In all schools fifty years ago, there 
were about 600 Negro teachers; while now, 
there are 38,000. The value of property for 
higher education at that time was about 
$60,000; but now, such property owned by 
Negroes is worth $22,000,000. The annual 
expenditures for Negro Education then was 
about $700,000; now, it is about $15,000,000. 
Of these expenditures, Negroes raised $80,000 
at that time; in 19 19, they raised about $1,- 
700,000. 

The separate school system in the South, 
which forbids blacks and whites attending the 
same schools, colleges, universities, etc., while 
a hardship upon the Negro, has not been in 
the long run without its distinct advantage to 
the colored race. Were Negroes in the South 
to be educated at all, they were forced to the 
necessity of providing the means of their own 
education; at least, it was necessary for them 
to have separate schools, and while distin- 
guished individuals of the white race were 



A HALF CENTURY OF PROGRESS 59 

personally interested in Negro education, it 
was incumbent upon the colored people to 
demonstrate their ability to educate and to 
become educated, else their aspiration to 
maintain and enlarge the means of their edu- 
cation in the South was doomed to disappoint- 
ment. 

How well they have succeeded, the facts and 
figures, the distinguished attainment of 
scholarship by many Negro individuals and 
the general average of information and in- 
telligence among Negroes in the South, give 
emphatic testimony! The high standing of 
Negro schools, colleges and universities in 
the South is unquestioned in the educational 
circles of the Nation. 

Of course, the Negro race acknowledge 
with gratitude the help they have received 
from their white friends. The names of the 
late General Clinton B. Fisk, founder of the 
great Fisk University at Nashville, Tennessee, 
and Mr. Julius Rosenwald, who has done and 
is doing so much to aid Negro education in the 
South, have become household words through- 
out the land. The names of many others, did 



60 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



space permit, might be mentioned for con- 
spicuous aid to Negro education. 

This fifty years of progress has demon- 
strated that Negro education is not an experi- 
ment. There is no longer any question of the 
Negro being able to master and successfully 
apply the Arts and Sciences. Creative and 
imaginative, gifted in expression and fervent 
in spirit, he excels in music, poetry, and ora- 
tory. 

Estimating future possibilities by past 
achievements in Negro education, within an- 
other fifty years this strain of blood in Amer- 
ica will scarcely be second to any other in 
intellectual attainment and educational cul- 
ture. 

RELIGION 

Religion in its essence is the greatest bind- 
ing factor in human society. As it pertains 
to the Kingdom of Christ, according to the 
great Teacher Himself, we cannot point to 
this or that and say " Lo, here or Lo, there," 
it is. It is not visible, for facts, figures or sta- 
tistics do not indicate nor set it forth. 

All people everywhere as a rule are, and 



A HALF CENTURY OF PROGRESS 61 



always have been, religious. Wherever man 
has been found, his knee bended before some 
altar, his heart worshiped at some shrine. 

Of all people, the Negro as a class is the 
most religious. And in this day of general de- 
clining interest in religion, with the Negro at 
the happy meeting point of education and su- 
perstition, there may be lodged the " leaven- 
ing lump" destined to save society as a whole 
from wreckage on the rocks of materialism. 

There is not so much decadence of religion 
itself as there is change in the form of its ex- 
pression, in the objects of man's devotion, in 
the idols of his worship. Plutus, Bacchus and 
Venus are the divinities of this age, most peo- 
ple being votaries of wealth, revelry or sensual 
pleasure, and many devoted to all. But few 
are solemn worshipers of the "Unknown 
God," whom Paul declared to the Athenians. 

Among the avowed worshipers of the true 
God in the religious denominations of today, 
there is little of the old time faith and fervor. 
The great Catholic and Episcopal churches 
have, some claim, well nigh reduced worship 
to form and ceremony. Others claim that 
the Christian Science Church has made re- 



62 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

ligion largely a philosophy, and other Prot- 
estant denominations, shorn of both God and 
the Devil, heaven and hell, have turned their 
churches into workshops, community centers 
or social clubs, in which the Gospel of Grace 
is a secondary matter, and " salvation from 
sin" a lost art. 

In our country, the "Old Time Religion," 
the religion of salvation by grace through 
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the doctrine of 
the New Birth, of redemption from sin 
through the sacrificial atonement of a cruci- 
fied Savior, — religious experience, emotional 
fervor, and ecstatic exaltation are largely con- 
fined to the Negro churches. 

In the days of slavery, religion was a very 
real thing to the Negro. Theirs was a sim- 
ple faith, and with it they clung to the hope 
of coming deliverance. After being released 
from bondage, in the same simple way they 
accepted their deliverance as having come 
from God, through the agency of Abraham 
Lincoln and the Government of which he was 
the head. 

After all, it is only by simple faith that any 
people can appropriate the realities of re- 



A HALF CENTURY OF PROGRESS 63 



ligion. Therefore, that which from the hu- 
man viewpoint, we call advancement or prog- 
ress in religion, is often retrogression and de- 
cadence. Subject it to all human tests, reduce 
it to human analyses, rob it of all mystery and 
explain everything connected with it, and 
it is no longer divine, but entirely human, ut- 
terly worthless as a guide to the unknown 
roads and a chart to the mysterious seas over 
which the soul must travel to the great be- 
yond. 

In considering the religious progress made 
by the Race in America within the last fifty 
years, while in numerical strength, multiplic- 
ity of church edifices, building of ecclesias- 
tical machinery and the extension of theologi- 
cal learning, it has in no sense lagged behind 
its economic and general educational advance- 
ment, the great significance of its religious 
status is that it has not "advanced away from " 
the fundamentals of Christian experience and 
the realities of religion. 

Some of the daily newspapers recently, for 
a few days, featured a "Back- to God" move- 
ment which so far as secular publicity went, 
apparently " died a 'borning." Ever since the 



64 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



great war, from time to time distinguished 
thinkers have in effect told us that what the 
world most needs is a revival of religion. 
Among them, Mr. Roger W. Babson, the stat- 
istician and cold-blooded business analyst, 
was the most pronounced in prescribing re- 
ligion as the remedy for the ills of the world. 

What sort of religion? 

What phase of any religion? 

How may it be applied so as to produce de- 
sired results? 

The prescribers of religion and the back- 
to-God guide-posts do not specify any par- 
ticular creeds or denominational brands. No 
doubt they rightly assume that the teachings 
of any religion, Jewish or Christian, Catholic 
or Protestant, if experienced and practiced 
by all the people, would render this a peace- 
ful and happy world to live in. 

Thinkers know that we do not need more 
organized religion. There was never as much 
of it as now. We do not need any further 
"criticism" of the Bible, nor expression of 
religion through material channels. Nothing 
is more deadly to religion than the odium the- 
ologicum, denominational strife, and ecclesi- 



A HALF CENTURY OF PROGRESS 65 

astical politics. A worldly church can but 
produce an emasculated religion. Devotees 
should worship, not play, in the House of 
God. 

Religion for the soul, like medicine for the 
body, must be taken to produce results. It 
is an inward, spiritual thing. It cannot be 
put on and laid off like the clothes we wear. 
It is a mysterious thing, because it comes from 
God. It comforts, uplifts, exalts, thrills. No 
matter how perplexing and discouraging ex- 
ternal conditions, no matter how deep the sor- 
rows and grave the problems within, experi- 
enced religion produces the " Peace that pass- 
eth understanding." If it is the religion recom- 
mended by the Master, it makes us love our 
enemies as well as our friends. No doubt this 
is the kind of religion Mr. Babson and others 
think the world needs today. 

The expression, "Back to God," is signifi- 
cant. From general indications, most of the 
organized vehicles of religion must "come 
back" if they get to God. The Negro 
churches have not so far to come as the more 
"enlightened" and worldly wise white 
churches have. 



66 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

The decadence of great preaching and of 
pulpit oratory, can be traced to the material- 
istic trend of the churches, along with all 
other institutions of the times. The modern 
pastor has little time to ponder the profound 
questions of the soul. He is too busy with the 
machinery of his "plant." 

Where are the Bossuets, Bourdaloues, Mas- 
sillons, Wesleys, Williamses, Spurgeons, Par- 
kers, Beechers, and Munseys of other days? 
Wherefore have we no more "giants of the 
pulpit" in the realm of the pathetic, who by 
resource of the emotions stir the hearts and 
move the passions of multitudes of men to- 
wards that which all know to be the noblest 
and best, whatever the practice of their lives 
may be? 

Careful and unprejudiced investigation will 
reveal that many of the most powerful preach- 
ers of today, from the standpoint of emotional, 
moving, magnificent, and thunderous tread, 
are colored men. 

There is no audience so responsive to ar- 
tistic influence, emotional appeal and oratori- 
cal sway, as the colored audience. Therefore, 
it is only natural, that with the advanced edu- 



A HALF CENTURY OF PROGRESS 67 



cation of many Negro preachers, they should 
excel in pulpit power the average white 
preacher of our time. Because of these facts, 
the relative position of religious activity 
among Negroes is most significant. 

In this "Changing Age," this kaleidoscopic 
time, there is nothing fixed and secure but the 
emotional heart of the race. Whether by 
music, oratory, poetic grace or artistic color- 
ing, there are strange and varying chords in 
the human heart, which always respond to 
stentorian appeal or to the slightest casual 
touch. 

In this wilderness of doubt, hate, and dis- 
trust, the voice of a new " John the Baptist" 
will soon be heard, declaring the "day of the 
Lord." A great preacher is coming, and, 
whether white or dark of skin, his heart will 
be clothed with the brightness of the sun. He 
will bear aloft the flaming torch of divine 
impulse, moving the masses anew to " Flee 
from the wrath to come" and prostrate them- 
selves before the face of God. He will thun- 
der at us, warn us, and drive us before his 
matchless message. He will tell us of the im- 
mensities and eternities. This must be so, be- 



68 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

cause nothing short of it can save society from 
the corruptness that is working its dissolution. 
Whether this coming Evangelist be white 
or black is of little consequence, but one thing 
is sure, the Negro church in America will be 
in the forefront of whole-hearted hearing and 
acceptance. The Negro church has not one- 
half the rubbish of materialism, modern 
methods, doubt and distrust to be cleared away 
which the white church has. Fifty years of 
religious progress have not diverted the Ne- 
gro church in America from the fundamentals 
of the early church. In the triumphant songs 
of the coming revival of religion, the match- 
less voices of the Race will be blended with 
the voices of other races in the first real man- 
ifestation of unity in human society. 



CHAPTER VII 

CHARACTERISTIC CONTRIBU- 
TIONS 

MOST white people have regarded the 
Negro's position relative to society as 
altogether receptive. They think that if he has 
kept within hailing distance of progressive 
civilization, it is because other races have con- 
tributed to his progress, smoothing the road 
for his advancement. While in a measure 
this is true, on the other hand, the Negro has 
made distinctive and characteristic contribu- 
tions to American thought and life, without 
which the nation would miss much that lends 
peculiar attractiveness. 

The first great contribution of the Negro 
to America, after his physical liberation, 
while not distinctive in the sense of other con- 
tributions yet to be mentioned, was his ma- 
terial reconstruction of the South. To a very 
large degree, the ruin wrought in the South 
by the civil war was reconstructed by Ne- 

69 



70 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

gro labor. It was many years after the war 
that freed the Negro physically, when his eco- 
nomic emancipation really began. 

While manual labor will always be neces- 
sary to life and progress, it was more essential 
in the post-war days, before the invention of 
so many labor saving devices, than it is now. 
Unaccustomed to physical toil as were so 
many of the white men of the South at that 
time, and in the entire absence of foreign 
labor, not only did the reconstruction, but 
practically the maintenance of the life of the 
South, depend upon the manual labor of the 
emancipated Negro. 

Of course, we should not forget that Ne- 
groes had to live, and for the time at least, it 
was necessary for them to live in the South. 
But, for a long time they did not live — they 
merely existed and most of them with less of 
physical comfort than they had previously en- 
joyed in slavery. Without any determined or 
concerted effort on the part of the white peo- 
ple to exploit the Negro, they, nevertheless, 
exploited him. 

There were two reasons for this: First, im- 
mediately after the war, the white people had 



CHARACTERISTIC CONTRIBUTIONS 71 

little or nothing with which to pay Negroes 
for their labor. With both whites and blacks, 
for the time, it was a question of existence. 
Second, the Negro as a class, without any pre- 
vious economic training, suddenly set free, 
was entirely helpless. He had to accept the 
situation and make the most of it. Time and 
experience were necessary to beget within him 
incentives to individual and racial ambition. 
Certainly, there were brilliant and noble ex- 
ceptions, but such was the general rule. 

Economically therefore, white people of 
the South were better off than they would 
have been had the war terminated as it did 
without liberating the slaves. As it turned 
out, the labor of free Negroes was less expen- 
sive than would have been the continued main- 
tenance of the slave system. 

Ignorantly and patiently, the Negro worked 
on and rebuilt the South. It is not claimed 
that no white men worked with their hands 
in the reconstruction of the South; many of 
them labored from choice, and many worked 
from necessity. The contention is that with- 
out cheap Negro labor the South never could 
have "come back" as it did. Discerning 



72 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



Southerners recognize this fact and give full 
credit to the Race for the great contribution 
it made to the Nation in making possible the 
swift rebuilding of that devastated, but beau- 
tiful section of our country. 

And, to their eternal credit, as the years 
passed, many Negro individuals and the race 
as a whole, despite inevitable disadvantages, 
made marked economic, educational, and re- 
ligious progress, as has already been set forth 
in these pages. 

Despite his social ostracism, and the con- 
temptuous attitude of other races with regard 
to his ability to do unusual things, the Negro 
has made eminently distinctive contributions 
to the thought and life of this nation. He has 
given a "color" to certain phases of our na- 
tionalism such as no other race can claim, 
more distinctive than the color of his skin. 
In fact, much that is distinctive in American 
music and American literature has been pro- 
duced by the Negro. Most else in American 
music and literature is of foreign pattern, 
copy and color. Most of that which is origi- 
nally and beautifully American comes from 
the colored race. 



CHARACTERISTIC CONTRIBUTIONS 73 

The old time religious and folk songs of the 
colored people, of weird and mournful thren- 
ody, are unlike anything produced before or 
since. They were the naturally musical and 
crudely poetic expression of souls in bondage, 
moulded and tinged by hope within and de- 
spair without. They were the product of a 
time, type and clime, within themselves im- 
mortal, but creatable only by the then exist- 
ing conditions which have passed forever. 

These songs early became a vital part of 
Southern life. They were sung by the slaves 
on the old plantations and at their religious 
meetings. Later they were revived, and by 
the world famous Fisk Jubilee Singers, un- 
der direction of Prof. George L. White, were 
given in grand concert in the principal Amer- 
ican cities and likewise throughout Europe, 
appearing, it is said, before most of the 
crowned heads of foreign countries. Much 
of the money for the founding and mainte- 
nance of Fisk University at Nashville, Ten- 
nessee, was raised in this way. 

That the genius of the Negro for original 
production in music was not limited to the 
old time songs is evidenced by the fact that 



74 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

the most modern and popular of all instru- 
mental music, " Rag-time" and "Jazz" are 
as distinctively his own as was 

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," 

or any other of his earlier products. 

The soul of the Negro is melodious and 
rhythmic. It readily responds to the spirit 
of the times, yields to the movement of the 
masses, and expresses itself in original music. 
His earlier bondage, poverty and despair were 
given vent through the mournful songs of the 
old time Negro. But the modern Negro, far 
removed from the sorrows of his ancestors, 
quick to catch the trend of this ragged, "jaz- 
zy" age, immediately set it to music, and 
forthwith put the whole world a-wiggle un- 
der its magic spell. 

In characteristic production, the colored 
race in America so far has been more musical 
than literary. This is true because musical 
expression, although crude, is simpler than 
literary expression. The Negro has given us 
distinctive music because his is a distinctive 
life, and his music is the expression of his 



CHARACTERISTIC CONTRIBUTIONS 75 

.J 

racial, as well as his individual life. In this 
respect, he is superior to the white man. 

Another distinct contribution of the Negro 
to American thought, expression, and life is 
his form of speech, racial accent, form of 
language construction, and the resultant lit- 
erature. While Negroes, as a class, have not 
been prolific producers of literature, their life, 
humor, philosophy, folk lore, and distinct lin- 
guistic expression have been copied by many 
white writers, and these successful imitators, 
together with Negro authors, have given us 
much that is distinctively American in litera- 
ture. 

In addition to the articles in various num- 
bers of the Journals of The American Folk- 
Lore Society, the "Uncle Remus" stories by 
Joel Chandler Harris; "Negro Myths from 
the Georgia Coast," by Charles C. Jones, Jr.; 
"Br'er Rabbit in the Folk Tales of the Ne- 
gro," by J. M. McBryde; "Geechee Folk- 
Lore," by Monroe N. Work, etc., with current 
magazine stories by Irvin S. Cobb, Octavus 
Roy Cohen and others are illustrative of a 
peculiar class of literature, at once the most 



76 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



engaging and amusing in the American field, 
solely produced or inspired by the Negro. 

While old time Negroes as a class did not 
understand the rules of grammar, their nat- 
urally musical speech so influenced pro- 
nounced language in the South as to render 
it the most beautiful in all the land. Charles 
Dickens, while visiting in America, said, 
" Virginians speak the most beautiful English 
in the world." No other language on earth 
is so musically mellow and soulfully expres- 
sive as grammatical English, accented and 
inflected by the Negro's natural style. This, 
in a land of so complex a population, where 
prevailing speech, if not in verbiage, at best 
in pronunciation, is mongrel in character, is 
a very distinct contribution to the beauty of 
the spoken language. It is a pity that so many 
Negroes, scattered over the whole country, are 
losing the characteristic speech of their an- 
cestors. 

In native wit and humor, not excepting the 
Irish, the Negro is the richest in America. 
He has given us the quaintest philosophy, the 
finest humor and the keenest wit in absolutely 
original form. 



CHARACTERISTIC CONTRIBUTIONS 77 



When asked if he could do a certain thing, 
an uneducated Negro, with his native ability 
to answer both humorously and forcefully, 
said: " Boss, that's the one thing I can't do 
nothin' else but." 

The humorous philosophy of another was 
expressed in his remarks to a friend who was 
engaged in an altercation with a belligerent 
colored man who drew a gun and threatened 
to shoot. The colored bystander, when his 
friend was expostulating with the combatant 
to "Put up dat gun — doan shoot me wid dat 
thing!" exclaimed, "Jes le' 'im shoot! Le' 
^im shoot ef he wan's to, you got de law on yo' 
side!" 

We are compelled to give very marked con- 
sideration to a race that, despite the greatest 
handicaps, has made marvelous progress in 
all the ordinary walks of life common to all 
classes, and in addition has made distinctive 
and original contribution to their country in 
the most vital phases of secular and sacred 
music, language, literature and humor. These 
things the Negro has unquestionably done. 

If, considering the point from which they 
started, the difficulties which they had to over- 



78 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

come, and the little or nothing expected of 
them, they have in fifty years done so much, 
what may they not achieve within the next 
fifty years, now that they are coming into their 
own? 

The difference between the Negro's relative 
position today and fifty years hence will be 
very much greater than the difference be- 
tween what he is today and what he was when 
he was liberated from slavery. 



CHAPTER VIII 
SOME OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES 

THE name of Frederick Douglas is in- 
separably associated in American his- 
tory with the names of Abraham Lincoln, 
Wendell Phillips, Horace Greeley, Harriet 
Beecher Stowe and the other outstanding fig- 
ures connected with the liberation of Negro 
slaves. He was an orator, a statesman, a pa- 
triot and a prophet. From slavery he ad- 
vanced step by step to the heights of an endur- 
ing fame. Fifty years ahead of his time, he 
denounced a wrong and uttered a prophecy, 
when he said, " I know no race problem. 
There is a human problem." 

Because the general public has not expected 
much of the colored race, a statement of the 
facts relative to its accomplishments appears 
incredible. 

This marvelous achievement by the colored 
people is due to team work, a team work that 
follows recognized leadership. Herein lies 

79 



80 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

the secret of its strength and progress. A 
weakness of so-called democracy, the " rule 
of the people by the people," is the non-recog- 
nition of able and worthy leadership. The 
mob, without authoritative leaders, never gets 
anywhere. General society is not yet civilized 
to the point where the mob spirit does not 
dominate, particularly in the absence of dom- 
inant heads whose authority the masses accept. 

Prophets are essential to progress. A na- 
tion without really great men to whom the 
masses look up, men whose judgment and mo- 
tives are unquestioned, in whose footsteps the 
people unfalteringly follow, and whose names 
are apotheosized in history after they are 
gone, is headed toward destruction. One of 
the evil omens of the hour which does not 
augur well for our national future is the ab- 
sence of veneration for our leaders, such as 
characterized the great days in our earlier 
history. 

This quality is not lacking among the 
masses of colored people in America. Among 
them are real, able leaders, devotedly looked 
up to by the rank and file of the race. In 
every avenue of thought and endeavor these 



SOME OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES 81 

real personages have appeared and today 
stand out in bold relief. A book of biography- 
setting forth the names and detailed story of 
distinguished Negro leaders would be most 
interesting, — a book that would be profitable 
for our entire population. 

In noting some outstanding examples, there 
is great temptation to go much further than 
space permits without making this book top- 
heavy, or at least ill proportioned. Planning 
in the near future to tell the life stories of 
distinguished colored individuals now living, 
in a new book entitled, " Who's Who in the 
Race," only a limited number of distinguished 
persons now deceased, gleaned here and there, 
chiefly from the Negro Year Book of 19 18- 
1919, can herein be noted. 

The late Rev, Dr. H. H. Boyd, of Nash- 
ville, Tennessee, stands out both as a minister 
and a business man. In 1896, he founded the 
National Baptist Publishing House at Nash- 
ville, which now occupies a half block in the 
business district, pays its employees more than 
$200,000 a year for labor, and owns property 
estimated by a leading commercial agency at 
$350,000. This house for years published all 



82 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

the Sunday school supplies, books and pam- 
phlets needed by the Negro Baptists. Doctor 
Boyd was also President of the National Ne- 
gro Doll Company. 

William Washington Brown, born in Ala- 
bama, was another very successful Negro, 
who was first a preacher and later became 
prominent as a business man. He founded, 
in 1 88 1, the Grand United Order of True Re- 
formers, one of the large and excellent benev- 
olent and secret orders of the race. Headquar- 
ters of this order were at Richmond, Virginia, 
and here in 1896, Mr. Brown established the 
True Reformers Bank, which was very suc- 
cessful and did much to promote banking 
among Negroes. 

Among the great colored educators, the late 
Dr. Booker T. Washington was perhaps the 
most famous. His reputation was interna- 
tional in its scope. His name has become a 
household word in America. Any account 
of his life work here would be superfluous. 
His memory and the fruits of his labor, re- 
gardless of race or color, are cherished by 
the nation. The United States and the world 
are vastly better because Booker T. Washing- 



SOME OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES 83 

ton lived, and both the black and white races 
mourned when he died. 

Among the heads and teachers of the more 
than five hundred colored universities, col- 
leges and normal schools, to say nothing of 
the grand total of thirty-eight thousand col- 
ored teachers in other schools in America, 
there is a host of distinguished and worthy 
individuals whose names and accomplish- 
ments it would be a pleasure to mention, but 
space forbids. 

Of eminent Negro pulpit orators in Amer- 
ica there have been and are a large number. 
Having discussed the relative position of the 
colored church in America today, only a few 
of the noted Negro preachers of the past will 
be mentioned here. 

Francisco Xavier de Luna Victoria, iji 5, 
the son of a freed Negro slave, was the first 
Negro in America to become a bishop, and 
the first person born in the Western Hemi- 
sphere to be elected to the bishopric. He took 
possession of the diocese in August, 1751. He 
furnished the cathedral at his own expense, 
enriching it with jewels and precious vest- 



84 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

ments. In 1759, he was transferred to the See 
of Trujillo, Peru. 

George Leile, born about the same time, 
was a noted early preacher. Before the Revo- 
lutionary War, his master moved to Burke 
County, Georgia. Here he was converted, 
and began to preach. His master, a deacon 
in the Baptist church, gave him his freedom. 
In 1783, he went to Jamaica. Before leaving, 
he baptized the slave, Andrew Bryan, who 
afterward became a great preacher, and es- 
tablished the First African Baptist Church at 
Savannah. 

Lemuel Haynes was a revolutionary soldier 
and distinguished colored Congregational 
preacher. He joined the Colonial army in 
1775 an d served through the war. He was 
well educated. In 1785, he became pastor of 
a white congregation at Torrington, Connecti- 
cut. In 18 1 8, he went to Manchester, New 
Hampshire, and soon became famous. His 
sermon against "Universalism," controvert- 
ing Hosea Ballou, created a wide impression. 
It was extensively circulated in the United 
States and Europe. He died at Granville, 
Connecticut, in 1832. 



SOME OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES 85 

Absolom Jones, the first Negro in the 
United States to be ordained in any denomi- 
nation, became a deacon in the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1787. 
Afterward, with Richard Allen, he founded 
the Free African Society and the Independ- 
ent African Church. 

John Jasper for sixty years was a famous 
Negro preacher in and around Richmond, 
Virginia. He gained nation wide notoriety by 
trying to prove by the Bible that the sun 
moves. At the time of his death in 1899, tne 
Richmond Dispatch gave large editorial space 
to a eulogy of his virtues. The Rev. William 
E. Hatcher, a prominent white minister of 
Richmond, has written the life of John 
Jasper. 

Amanda Smith, a colored woman, was dis- 
tinguished as an evangelist in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. She was born a slave in 
Maryland in 1837. Her father, by "extra" 
work purchased the freedom of himself and 
his family, and moved to Pennsylvania. 
Amanda learned to read by cutting out large 
letters from newspapers, laying them on the 
window sill, and getting her mother to make 



86 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

them into words. In great camp meetings in 
the seventies in Ohio and Illinois, she became 
famous. She evangelized in Africa, India, 
England and Scotland. She died in 191 5. 

There are more than a thousand Negro 
lawyers practicing before the courts of the 
nation, many of them with a very high order 
of legal and forensic ability. Allen B. Macon 
was the first Negro to be admitted to the prac- 
tice of law in the United States. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar at Worcester, Massachusetts, 
in 1845. He had been allowed to practice in 
Maine two years before that time. 

John S. Rock was the first Negro admitted 
to practice before the U. S. Supreme Court. 
On motion of the great Charles Sumner, he 
was admitted February 1, 1865. 

Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, business man, lawyer 
and the first Negro judge ever elected in the 
United States, was born in Philadelphia in 
1823, and died at Little Rock, Arkansas, in 
19 1 5. He was graduated from the law de- 
partment of Oberlin College in 1870; after- 
ward settled in Little Rock, where he prac- 
ticed law, and was elected city judge in 1873. 
Later, he was registrar of the United States 



SOME OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES 87 



Land Office at Little Rock, and in 1879 was 
appointed United States Consul to Tamatave, 
Madagascar. 

In no other lines of endeavor has color so 
stood in the way of advancement as the judi- 
ciary and military. Among Negro lawyers 
there are men whose ability would grace any 
bench, but few of them have been elected or 
appointed judges. Likewise, in the army there 
have been soldiers who have merited the gen- 
eral's star, but as yet there has been no Negro 
general in the American Army. 

The late Colonel Charles Young, Tenth 
Cavalry, U. S. Regular Army, who was re- 
tired in 1917, was, perhaps, the ablest and 
most distinguished Negro officer in the Amer- 
ican army. Being a graduate of West Point 
Military Academy, having an untarnished 
and brilliant record as a soldier and officer, 
Col. Young was in every way entitled to a gen- 
eral's star. Many believe that his color alone 
was the barrier to his further promotion. His 
death, probably hastened by disappointment 
and grief at not being permitted to perform 
his legitimate and patriotic duty in the great 
war, was mourned throughout the nation, and 



88 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

was the occasion of memorial meetings at- 
tended by thousands all over the land. 

Within the next fifty years no doubt this 
will be different, for in the social progress of 
a complex population merit alone must be the 
means of preferment. There is no just cause 
why a Negro should not occupy any position 
of trust or honor for which, by character and 
intellect, he is fitted. As for American Negro 
soldiers, in every war the United States has 
fought, they have acquitted themselves with 
credit to their country. It is impossible to 
mention the names of those who have been 
cited for bravery in action, those who have 
performed heroic deeds. In proportion to the 
numbers engaged, Negroes have acquitted 
themselves with as great credit as have white 
men in the service of the Government. 

Peter Bigstaff, the hero of Carrizal, is the 
outstanding example of bravery in the Race. 
When in 1916, the United States sent a puni- 
tive expedition under General Pershing into 
Mexico, in pursuit of the Villa forces which 
had raided Columbus, New Mexico, two 
Negro regiments, the 10th Cavalry and the 
24th Infantry were a part of his expedition. 
On June 21, troops C and K of the 10th 



SOME OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES 89 

Cavalry were ambushed by about 700 Mex- 
ican soldiers. Outnumbered almost ten to 
one, these black soldiers dismounted in the 
face of a withering machine gun fire, de- 
ployed, charged the Mexicans and killed their 
commander. These Negroes fought on until 
two of the three officers commanding them 
were killed, and the other was badly wounded. 
Peter Bigstaf? fought to the last beside his 
commander, Lieutenant Adair. In the course 
of a tribute to the Carrizal fighters, the dis- 
tinguished orator and publicist, John Temple 
Graves of Georgia, said : " The black trooper 
might have faltered and fled a dozen times, 
saving his own life and leaving Adair to fight 
alone, but it never seemed to occur to him. 
He was comrade to the last blow. When 
Adair's broken revolver fell from his hand, 
the black trooper pressed another into it, and 
together shouting in defiance, they thinned 
the swooping circle of overwhelming odds be- 
fore them. 

" The black man fought in the deadly sham- 
ble side by side with the white man following 
always and fighting always as his Lieutenant 
fought. 

"And finally, when Adair, literally shot to 



90 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

pieces, fell in his tracks, his last command to 
his black trooper was to leave him and save 
his life. Even then the heroic Negro paused 
in the midst of that hell of carnage for a final 
service to his officer. Bearing a charmed life, 
he had fought his way out. He saw that 
Adair had fallen with his head in the water. 
With superb loyalty, the black trooper turned 
and went back to the maelstrom of death, 
lifted the head of his superior, leaned him 
against a tree and left him there dead with 
dignity. It was impossible to serve any more. 

"There is not a finer piece of soldierly de- 
votion and heroic comradeship," says Mr. 
Graves, "in the history of modern warfare 
than that of Henry Adair and the black 
trooper who fought with him at Carrizal." 

In the annals of American heroism the 
name of Bigstaff will be linked with that of 
Sergeant York and the entire constellation de- 
serving of very great honor. 

"The Negro soldiers from the United 
States made a wonderful record on the battle 
fields of France. They were the first of the 
American Expeditionary Forces to get into 
action. The first soldiers of the American 



SOME OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES 91 



Army to be decorated for bravery in France 
were two Negroes, Henry Johnson and Need- 
ham Roberts, members of the 369th Infantry, 
which was formerly the 15th New York Na- 
tional Guard Regiment. 

"On the night of May 15, 1918, these two 
men, while on sentry duty, were attacked by 
a raiding party of some twenty or more Ger- 
mans. The names of these two men will stand 
out forever on the roll of honor of their race. 
Battling in the blackness of night with their 
rifles, hand grenades and a bolo knife, wholly 
deprived of the assistance of their comrades, 
they put to flight an enemy assaulting party 
of at least twenty-four strong. For this act 
of bravery, Johnson and Roberts received 
medals of honor." Negro Year Book, 191 8- 
1919, p. 98. 

In peace as well as in war, many Negroes 
have performed heroic deeds. Space does not 
permit naming here the more than forty col- 
ored men to whom has been awarded the Car- 
negie Hero Medal. The deeds these men 
have performed, largely to save white people 
from death, unquestionably entitle the doers 



92 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

to honored place among the galaxy of Amer- 
ican heroes. 

Negroes have occupied and now hold high 
position among musicians, painters, poets, 
sculptors and actors. 

Mr. Will Marian Cook says that "devel- 
oped Negro music has just begun in America. 
The colored American is finding himself. He 
has thrown aside puerile imitations of the 
white man. He has learned that a thorough 
study of the masters gives knowledge of what 
is good and how to create. From the Russian 
he has learned to get inspiration from within 
that his inexhaustible wealth of folklore 
legends may furnish him with material for 
compositions that will establish a great school 
of music and enrich musical literature." 

As previously stated, Negroes originated 
11 rag-time " and "jazz" music. As far back 
as 1875, in questionable resorts along the Mis- 
sissippi River, this musical figure began to 
evolve, but it was at the World's Fair in Chi- 
cago that it gained an impetus that swept over 
America and then over Europe. The actual 
originators are unknown by name. But many 
Negroes, — Irving Jones, Will Accoe, Bob 



SOME OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES 93 



Cole, the Johnson Brothers, Gussie L. Davis, 
Sid Perrin, Ernest Hogan, Williams and 
Walker and others wrote many of the cele- 
brated songs of the day. 

While "ragtime" is not yet unpopular, 
" jazz" has largely taken its place. According 
to James Reese Europe, the colored king of 
"jazz" music performers, the name origi- 
nated with a four piece band known as the 
"Razz Band" in New Orleans. After play- 
ing for a time in the St. Charles Hotel there, 
they went to New York where they appeared 
only a short time before the individual musi- 
cians were taken over by various orchestra? 
in the city. After a while, the name " Razz 
Band" was changed to "Jazz Band" and 
from this originated "jazz" music. 

During slavery days there were many well 
educated Negroes in New Orleans, among 
whom were some who became distinguished 
as composers of music. 

Edmond Dede wrote " Le Sement de 
TArabe" and "Le Palmier Overture." 

Samuel Snaer composed " Le Chant de De- 
part" and "Le Vampire." 



94 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



Basil Bares wrote " La Capriceuse Valse" 
and " Delphine Valse Brilliante." 

James Hemmenway of Philadelphia, in 
1829, was a contributor to Atkinson's Kasket, 
a musical journal. Among his compositions 
were, " That Rest so Sweet Like Bliss Above," 
the "Philadelphia Grand Entree March," 
and " Hunter and Hope Waltzes." 

Samuel Milady, ("Sam Lucus"), noted 
actor and composer, was the first Negro writer 
of popular ballads. He was author of 
" Grandfather's Clock was Too Tall for the 
Shelf," and others. 

George Melburn, 2l wandering Negro min- 
strel, was the composer of "Listen to the 
Mocking Bird." A white man, Septimus 
Winter, set it to music, received the credit and 
financial profits, but Melburn, the Negro, was 
the real author of the immortal piece. 

The late "Bert" Williams engraved his 
own fame upon the hearts of millions of men, 
women and children throughout the land with 
his inimitable comedy and unequaled skill as 
an actor. He had a fixed place upon the 
American stage and his appearance w r as an 
event in any American city. His untimely 



SOME OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES 95 



death was mourned by millions of his^ ad- 
mirers regardless of race or color. The " rec- 
ords" of his songs will live and will be en- 
joyed by future generations. 

Negro journalism and the Race lost one of 
its greatest men in the passing of the late John 
H. Murphy of Baltimore on April 5, 1922. 
He was editor and publisher of The Afro- 
American, one of the greatest of Negro pub- 
lications. Mr. Murphy was a prominent and 
active layman in the A. M. E. Church and 
Past Potentate of the Negro Mystic Shrine. 

Among great physicians, surgeons, editors, 
authors, and in every other honorable calling 
there are many famous colored men and 
women time and space will not allow us to 
mention. The outstanding examples men- 
tioned are indeed but few, as compared with 
the whole. But even these are ample evi- 
dence that the statements heretofore made, 
concerning the ability and progress of the 
Negro race as a whole, are true. 

What is to be the future attitude of other 
Americans toward so mighty a force and fac- 
tor in the affairs of our national life? Shall 
we welcome it, gladly accept it, and co-oper- 



96 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

ate with it in mutual and fraternal progress? 
Or, shall we regard it with indifference and 
casually try to obstruct it? 

Upon the manner in which white Amer- 
icans meet black Americans upon the high- 
way of progress depends very largely what 
our national future is to be. 



CHAPTER IX 
AMERICA'S NEED OF THE NEGRO 

THE question of whether the Negro is a 
liability or an asset to the United States 
is most important to the nation as a whole. 
And, regardless of whether he is an asset, pre- 
vailing opinion upon this point will largely 
determine the rapidity with which the race 
problem is to be solved. 

After a thorough survey of the situation, in- 
cluding our national necessities, the physical, 
mental and spiritual traits of the colored race, 
the attitude of the race toward our govern- 
ment, and the certain heights of development 
the race will attain, unquestionably the Negro 
is not only an asset, but time will prove him a 
necessity to the future welfare of our country. 

Some well meaning people of both the 
white and colored races have advocated the 
idea of the Negro's return to Africa. They 
have claimed that with the advantages gained 
by his experiences in America he is well 

97 



98 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

equipped to build a civilization in his native 
land, and that it would be better for both 
America and Africa, that he did so. But the 
consensus of opinion is that such a thing is 
not practicable, and that were it practicable, 
it would not be best, either for the Race or for 
the United States. 

From the economic viewpoint, especially 
that of manual labor, America needs the 
Negro. Economically speaking, if Negro 
labor was a good thing for this country dur- 
ing slavery, it is better with his freedom. As 
has already been mentioned, Negro labor 
made possible the swift reconstruction of the 
South after the civil war, and when the exo- 
dus of Negroes from the South to the North 
took place, the South suffered from it very 
materially. In absence of sufficient foreign 
labor, the Negro as a worker is practically 
necessary to economic success in the South, 
and is a valuable asset to any part of the coun- 
try. 

However, in considering America's need of 
the Negro from the standpoint of labor and 
economy, our minds should be disabused of 
the long prevailing idea that the Negro's 



AMERICA'S NEED OF THE NEGRO 99 



specialty is labor, and that he is fit only for 
physical work. The greatest curse of our 
country and the world is the wrongly accepted 
view of labor, regarding it as menial and those 
who engage in it as degraded. 

Of all things, labor is the most honorable. 
The laws of nature have made it essential to 
physical, mental and moral well-being. With- 
out physical exercise, the body fails and dies. 
Actual, useful bodily labor is the very best 
sort of physical exercise. Without mental ex- 
ercise, the mind fails to develop, dwarfs and 
becomes ineffective and useless. Without 
moral exercise in love for and doing good to 
others, the soul shrivels and perishes. The 
proper exercise of body, mind and soul in the 
comprehensive sense, is work. 

The line of demarcation between physical 
and mental work is hard to distinguish, for 
neither can be done successfully without the 
other. No man can be at his best physically 
who does not use his brain. No one can do 
good mental work without the aid of the body. 
The one contributes to and assists the other. 

This is all so evident and commonplace that 
no one will dispute it, but no other fact of life 






100 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

is so ignored and abused as this. Not only 
does the "Aristocracy of Gold," together with 
the imitators of this aristocracy, "look down" 
upon manual laborers, but most of such work- 
ers themselves feel degraded and long for the 
time when they may escape it. Many resort 
to tricks and dishonest devices in order to live 
without work. But hate it as we may, it is 
essential to the existence of humanity. Every 
necessity, comfort and luxury is possible only 
through the manual toil of some one. There- 
fore, the most essential and consequently the 
most honorable people of earth are the work- 
ers. The fact is, no man or woman with the 
mental or physical ability to engage in some 
useful occupation and refuses to do so, has a 
moral right to live. Such a one is necessarily 
a burden to others and a "cumberer of the 
earth." 

That the Negro by nature is physically and 
mentally fitted to do profitable w 7 ork, that by 
virtue of these facts he has already made vast 
contribution to the wealth of this nation, and 
that he is all the more fitted to so contribute 
in the future, is at once a very great honor 
to his name and race, and makes him an asset 



AMERICA'S NEED OF THE NEGRO 101 



and a practical necessity to the future life and 
prosperity of the nation. 

In addition to the Negro's labor, America 
needs his loyalty. By nature and by training, 
the colored race is and always has been loyal 
to this country and its government. Negroes 
were here as slaves before the Republic was 
established. They brought with them no 
prejudices and left behind them no memories 
which, even in slavery, they could cherish 
against this land. In every war in which 
America has engaged, the Negro has bravely 
fought beside the white man for American 
principles. 

So much cannot be said of the millions of 
other foreigners who have come to our shores. 
One of the gravest questions of the nation to- 
day is that of the Americanization of the for- 
eigners among us. It actually is a question of 
whether America shall Americanize the for- 
eigners or the foreigners shall foreignize 
America. Into this problem the Negro does 
not enter save always and everywhere as an 
unquestioned asset on the side of America, 
sacredly cherishing her fondest traditions and 
loftiest ideals. The general average of his 



102 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

loyalty to the Stars and Stripes will measure 
as high as that of the white citizens of the 
land. 

From the Negro Year Book, 1918-19, pp. 
44-45, is taken the following: " According to 
the best sources of information, it appears that 
just before, and at the beginning of the entry 
of the United States into the world war, 
German propagandists made a special effort 
to cause the Negroes in the South to be dis- 
loyal. These propagandists were, evidently, 
unaware of the Negro's traditional loyalty 
and the fact that no instance could be cited 
where he had betrayed a trust. It developed 
that the Negro was the one group in the na- 
tion which was one hundred per cent Amer- 
ican, and among them there were no hyphens. 
An excellent statement of the loyalty of the 
Negro was made by Roscoe Conkling Sim- 
mons, a nephew of the late Booker T. Wash- 
ington. In an address at Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, in March, 1917, Mr. Simmons, among 
other things, said, We have a record to de- 
fend, but no treason, thank God, to atone or 
explain. While in chains, we fought to free 
white men, — from Lexington to Carrizal, — 



AMERICA'S NEED OF THE NEGRO 103 

and returned again to our chains. No Negro 
has ever insulted the flag.* 

"'No Negro ever struck down a president 
of the United States. No Negro ever sold a 
military map or secret to a foreign govern- 
ment. No Negro ever ran under fire or lost an 
opportunity to serve, to fight, to bleed and to 
die in the Republic's cause. Accuse us of 
what you will, — justly or wrongly, — no man 
can point to a single instance of our disloyalty. 

" ' We have but one country and one flag, the 
flag that set us free. Its language is our only 
tongue, and no hyphen bridges or qualifies our 
loyalty. Today the nation faces danger from 
a foreign foe, treason stalks and skulks up and 
down our land. In dark councils, intrigue is 
being hatched. Woodrow Wilson is my 
leader. What he commands me to do, I will 
do. Where he commands me to go, I will go. 
If he calls me to the colors, I will not ask 
whether my colonel is white or black. I will 
be there to pick out no color except the white 

* The shocking incident in Chicago when certain, probably 
insane, Negroes fostering an anti-American movement, burned 
an American flag and killed two white Americans, for which 
they paid the penalty of death, occurred since the date of this 
speech by Mr. Simmons. This occurrence does not affect the 
spirit and real truthfulness of his eloquent words. 



104 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

of the enemy's eyes. Grievances I have 
against this people and against this govern- 
ment. Injustice against me there is, bad laws 
there are upon the statute books, but in this 
hour of peril I forget, — and you must forget, 
— all thoughts of self or race or creed or poli- 
tics or color. That is loyalty.' " 

In all the fervent speech called forth by the 
war, there was no finer specimen of true ora- 
tory than the above, — true oratory because it 
expressed solemn truth. 

Say not that the nation does not need such 
loyalty as that! Say not that in building the 
future solidarity of the American government, 
the Negro will not be one of the foundation 
stones! In peace he is an asset; in war he is 
a bulwark; — in both instances he is of tre- 
mendous consideration. 

America needs, particularly in these ma- 
terial days, the aesthetic, the artistic, the 
humorous side, which is the psychology of the 
Negro. 

Who would be glad to see the colored peo- 
ple of America gathered upon the Atlantic 
shores, with transports waiting to bear them 
aw T ay forever, and hear them blend their 



AMERICA'S NEED OF THE NEGRO 105 

matchless voices in a song of farewell? No 
one who has given the question serious con- 
sideration. 

They have done too much for this country 
in the past and are capable of doing so much 
more in the future, that no sensible individual 
would wish them away. We need their co- 
operative labor, their patriotic loyalty, their 
pathetic as well as cheerful music, their good 
humor and their optimistic spirit. 

But in the consideration of the race ques- 
tion, may we not make the mistake of assum- 
ing that it lies entirely within our province 
to determine the "how and the wherefore" of 
the colored race. 

Let us not forget that under the Constitu- 
tion of the United States every citizen, irre- 
spective of color, has equal rights with every 
other citizen. It is not for the white man to 
lord it over the black man, nor for the black 
man to dictate to the white man. All should 
dwell together in unity. Each race needs the 
other, and the nation needs them both. Amer- 
ican unity and solidarity should be the watch- 
words of the hour. Without a nation-wide 
re-building of these qualities, disintegration 



106 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



will overtake us. This is no time for racial 
and sectional differences, but rather for the 
complete obliteration of the sentimental dif- 
ferences which alone hinder the complete co- 
operation of two great races and two great 
sections of our country. 




CHAPTER X 

"SOCIAL EQUALITY" 

Y social equality between the white and 
_ black races is supposedly meant a meet- 
ing of the two races upon the same social level, 
a gracious extension and cordial reception to 
and from each other of the amenities of social 
intercourse. This means visiting with and en- 
tertainment of each other. " Social equality" 
of these races means for both colors to sit to- 
gether around the same festal board. 

Against this idea the South has always re- 
belled and with most people in the North, it 
has been but a theory, practiced by compara- 
tively few. This question has no legitimate 
place in the adjustment of racial disagree- 
ments because color has nothing to do with 
character. Only two things, by right, should 
determine social equality and inequality, 
namely, character and intellect, which form 
the foundation for the only genuine aristoc- 
racy. 

107 



108 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



In nothing are there so many strata and 
gradations as in the makeup of the world's 
social life. No other word has a more varied 
significance than the word "society." Pri- 
marily it means the entire human family in 
its associated and inter-related contact. In its 
narrowest and most despicable sense, it refers 
to the "upper crust," the "aristocracy of 
gold," the "400," oftentimes an idle, de- 
bauched and useless class. There are as many 
gradations of society as there are levels upon 
which people meet in mutually pleasant inter- 
course. 

There is social inequality between a culti- 
vated individual and an uncouth ignoramus. 
There is social inequality between a man of 
high moral character and a libertine; between 
a pure woman and a courtesan; between an 
honest man and a thief; between a gentleman 
and a robber. None of these differences are 
made by the color of one's skin. We all know 
many colored people with whom we would 
prefer to associate in any capacity than with 
some white people we know. And there are 
colored people so low that self-respecting per- 
sons of the same race would not think of re- 



SOCIAL EQUALITY 



» 



109 



ceiving and entertaining them on a social 
equality. All of the argument from every 
angle is against the idea of color having any- 
thing to do with social position. 

But upon the subject of equality great harm 
was done to the colored people of the South 
immediately after the civil war, when for self- 
ish purposes, unscrupulous men sought to 
instil into the mind of the Negro the idea that 
because he was once a slave and had been set 
free, he was in every way the equal of the 
white man and that all he had to do was to 
assert himself and enjoy all the rights and 
benefits of equality. The plan was, that with- 
out any self-development and without any 
mental growth of individual refinement be- 
yond that already attained, he was to be per- 
mitted to enter the homes of the white peo- 
ple as an equal, marry the white woman of the 
South and the North, and do many other 
things too ridiculous to be mentioned. Today, 
no sensible man or woman of either race 
would for a moment tolerate such an idea. 

Through a half century of struggle and 
growth, the Negro has learned that his so- 
cial position, like that of every other man, 



110 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

must be attained and that he must win his 
spurs before he can wear them. And while 
the Negro has been learning the truth, the 
white race is learning that when the Negro 
has merited social recognition, it must not 
and cannot be denied him in a free country. 
We must go still further, by gladly co-operat- 
ing with him, in every way encouraging him, 
and welcoming him to the highest social posi- 
tion he may justly earn. 

Next to humility, modesty is a sterling vir- 
tue. No modest man of any race endeavors 
to push himself into a social circle for which 
he is not fitted and in which he is not wel- 
come. The Negro could make no greater 
mistake than by trying to force himself into 
social recognition. Let him rest assured that 
he, like every one else, will have the recogni- 
tion he deserves. It has not always been so, 
but in the future it shall be so, for a general 
social awakening is at hand, in which all peo- 
ple shall receive their just deserts. 

To bring about deserved social recognition 
of the colored people, the South must change 
its sentiment, and the North must make good 
its long professed sentiment toward them. It 



" SOCIAL EQUALITY » 111 



will be much easier for southern white peo- 
ple to associate with deserving colored peo- 
ple than for white people of the North to do 

so. 

White people of the South have been and 
are closer to the Negro than those of the 
North. The temperaments of the two races 
in the South are more closely allied, and psy- 
chologically they have much more in common 
than have the two races in the North. In the 
South, they do not have to " get used to " each 
other. In the ante-bellum days, many white 
children of the aristocracy tugged at the 
black mammies' breasts. In those days, col- 
ored coachmen, holding whip and rein over 
prancing steeds, sat beside the finest ladies 
in the land. " Mammy" reigned supreme 
over the household. " My children, my white 
folks, my big house, my company" were com- 
mon expressions of these grand old colored 
women, than whom no finer type of faithful, 
gentle, loyal people has ever been known. 

When this change of sentiment has been 
wrought in the South and when the white race 
ceases to hold prejudice against the black race 
because of color, the task of social readjust- 



112 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

ment will have been accomplished, for the 
two races do not have to learn to understand 
and appreciate each other. In the North, 
it is different, for since the civil war there 
has been theoretically, no line of social de- 
marcation between the two races. But for 
the most part, recognition of " social equal- 
ity" in the North has been theory only. This 
has not been due to any appreciable differ- 
ence between the character and temperament 
of the white people of the two sections, but 
because the North does not know the colored 
people as the South does, and the colored 
people do not understand the white people 
of the North as they understand those of the 
South. But when both sections abandon the 
idea that the race problem is a sectional one 
and the nation as a unit aw r akens to the neces- 
sity of sane, humane, racial adjustment, the 
time will soon come w 7 hen no worthy indi- 
vidual of the colored race will have cause to 
complain of not having proper recognition. 



CHAPTER XI 
AMALGAMATION 

IN the course of human development in 
America, that which is now so heterogene- 
ous will eventually become homogeneous, and 
whether we approve or disapprove, it will 
become so through the process of the amalga- 
mation of the races. The ultimate product 
of this amalgamation will be the American 
type as distinct from the other nationalities 
from which the blended elements will have 
been drawn. 

The question of amalgamation, like that of 
social equality, may be viewed from the nar- 
row and prejudiced standpoint, or from the 
natural and philosophical viewpoint. In 
keeping with our religious and social stand- 
ards, bloods may be blended legitimately only 
in the bonds of wedlock. While there have 
been comparatively few marriages between 
Jews and Gentiles, in America we look with 
approval upon the inter-marriage of all 

113 



114 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

strains of Caucasian blood. In a few in- 
stances, splendid American girls have mar- 
ried highly cultivated men of the Chinese and 
Japanese races. White men have been mar- 
ried to Red Indian women. Some distin- 
guished American ladies, among them a for- 
mer "First Lady of the Land," have boasted 
of having Indian blood in their veins. 

But when it comes to marriage between the 
white and black races there is general objec- 
tion on both sides of the line. The thought 
of amalgamation of the two races, of the col- 
ored race in America ultimately being ab- 
sorbed by the white race is repellent to most 
minds. 

The answer is, it is being done. 

This amalgamation of the black and white 
races has been going on for more than half 
a century. In the greater part it has been 
out of wedlock. The turpitude connected 
therewith has been much lower upon the part 
of the white fathers than upon that of the col- 
ored mothers. To such an extent has amalga- 
mation obtained that a very large percentage 
of the so-called colored population is of mixed 
blood, and a large part of this percentage is 
more white than black. 



AMALGAMATION 115 

Nothing in the history of America's so- 
cial and moral, or should we say immoral life, 
would be so startling as the facts concerning 
the cohabitation between white men and col- 
ored women, were these facts made known. 
And were it possible for the chemist to seek 
out the great-family strains of blood in many 
colored men's veins, many of us would be 
proud to claim it in our own. 

In considering this subject in its entirety, 
following it through the centuries, it is diffi- 
cult to distinguish between the moral and ul- 
timately utilitarian phases of it. That which 
sometimes is provincially and temporarily im- 
moral and unethical, ultimately works out for 
the good of society as a whole. For example, 
if we accept the Biblical account of the origin 
and extension of the human race, judging it 
by our own standards of rectitude, our pride 
receives a frightful blow from the fact that 
all kindreds and tongues are descendants from 
Cain, who murdered his brother and married 
or mated with his sister. Today we punish 
the first crime with death and the second by 
imprisonment. Yet, if the professed faith of 
the Jewish and Christian churches upon this 
particular point be true, the race would have 



116 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



perished in that day had not Cain, the fratri- 
cide, cohabited with his sister. It goes with- 
out saying, of course, that without doing vio- 
lence to the fundamental teachings of the 
Bible, very few people of intelligence accept 
its literal statements with reference to the be- 
ginnings of humanity. 

The origin and development of mankind 
as revealed by science is more reliable, as 
claimed by some, than the Biblical account. 
God is the author of both, and there can be 
no conflict between the two, when mistaken 
deductions from science, human errors and 
false interpretations of the Scriptures are 
eliminated. This process of investigation, de- 
duction and elimination in both fields is suf- 
ficiently advanced to establish beyond ques- 
tion the inaccuracy of the Biblical account of 
creation. That the existence of man antedates 
the Biblical account by ages upon ages and 
that the genus homo underwent a process of 
development from a lower order up to the 
point where written history authentically 
takes up the story, there is no doubt. 

Undoubtedly the development of pre-his- 
toric mankind was a continued process of dif- 



AMALGAMATION 117 

ferentiations and re-admixtures. The three 
or four great racial divisions of humanity are 
results of previous amalgamations. Physical 
forms, colors of skin, mental development, 
etc., are the results of heredity and environ- 
ment. Previous progeniture and isolation in 
a tropical climate were responsible for the 
long benighted condition of the Negro tribes 
in Africa. Likewise, progeniture and local 
conditions in other lands, to a very great de- 
gree, determine the physical and mental status 
of their inhabitants. 

But the last fifty years have marked a 
mighty change, which is destined to bring 
about a racial re-adjustment such as has not 
been known before. According to Mr. Wells' 
idea, there is to be no further differentiation 
of the races as an animal species, but a possible 
re-admixture. The last half century has been 
the material age of scientific discovery and 
inventive genius. As before mentioned, this 
material mastery, by rapid transportation over 
land and water, and through the air, by ocean 
cable and wireless telegraphy, has abolished 
distance and has brought all the peoples of 
earth into close contact. The races are al- 



118 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

ready blended into a world thought, in that 
if the nations and races do not agree, they are 
compelled, by force of world wide dissemi- 
nation of news, to think on the same things. 
Isolation is no longer possible to any people. 
Africa, known through the centuries as the 
" Dark Continent," up to the middle of the 
nineteenth century, was encased in darkness. 
Egypt was the seat of an ancient civilization, 
but the shore lines were the only known parts 
of the vast sweep of territory. But later in 
the century the old powers of Europe, ever 
athirst for fresh possessions in the extension 
of empire, barred from the Americas by the 
Monroe Doctrine, turned to the politically un- 
protected lands of Africa. Within the last 
fifty years, Central Africa has been explored, 
its vast natural wealth discovered, its terri- 
tory after much contention, divided between 
the European countries and its map painted 
in European colors, all for the ostensible pur- 
pose of " profitable modernization," but with- 
out much regard for the immediate welfare 
of the natives. 

Through the process, the God of races was 
liberating the benighted tribes of Africa, 



AMALGAMATION 119 

opening the roads for civilization to enter, 
providing an exit through which they might 
go out into the world as freemen, not as bond- 
men as so many of their race had previously 
gone. Thus has the Negro race in Africa 
been turned from the process of racial differ- 
entiation toward that of mingling and mixing 
with the outer world, from which they were 
barred for centuries. 

This same rule has of late been working 
for the other remote races of earth. With 
the modern convergence of thought by me- 
chanical means there naturally follows a con- 
vergence of peoples, and by an unvarying 
physical law, different races will overlap, mix, 
blend and partake of one another's character- 
istics as naturally as plants, flowers and some 
fruits when in close proximity to one another. 

Whether by chance or in fulfillment of di- 
vine purpose, the process of the extension of 
the human family has converged the repre- 
sentatives of all races upon a common meet- 
ing point in America. Here, the work of 
blending thought, amalgamating races and 
harmonizing action is going on. It is men- 
tally, physically, and righteously impossible 






120 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



to exclude the Negro from this process. He 
has already been included in it to an extent 
that it would be impossible to change, should 
we so wish. 

The contention, "Whom God hath sepa- 
rated, man should not join together," is not 
consistent with the orthodox viewpoint of 
Biblicists, that all mankind is descended from 
Adam and Eve. If God created them to be 
the first and sole progenitors of the human 
race, leaving them responsible for multiplica- 
tion of the genus homo to replenish the earth, 
then He was not responsible for the color dis- 
tinctions of their descendants. By the ortho- 
dox theory, we are in consanguinity, for Christ 
declared, "All ye are brethren." 

Some one will ask, " Is it right for men and 
women of the white and colored races to in- 
termarry?" 

While this question is not legitimately ad- 
missible to discussion in this connection, it 
cannot be avoided, because false conclusions 
would be drawn by some not disposed to deal 
fairly with the writer, and he would be mis- 
judged by some, if left to make deductions for 
him. 






AMALGAMATION 121 

Mating for the purpose of reproduction is 
co-existent with animal life, including, of 
course, the human species. By a law of na- 
ture, which is a law of God, the sex relation 
between the male and female, regardless of 
the marriage institution, when solely for the 
purpose of reproduction does not partake of 
the moral element. No one can think of mo- 
rality or immorality among animals, yet they 
mate and reproduce. In the earlier stages of 
humanity this was the only phase of the sexual 
element. Among them the depravity of phys- 
ical passion was unknown. Among the 
earlier tribes, there was no marriage law to 
violate. But with the progress of civilization 
there were the accompanying evils of human 
proximity and sexual depravity. The institu- 
tion of marriage became necessary for the pro- 
tection of society and development of the 
home and family idea. 

And while today the civil institution and 
religious sacrament of marriage are safe- 
guards most sacred to human society, it is used 
as a cloak to cover " a multitude of sins," and 
under no other guise is there more sexual de- 
pravity. The woman who sells herself to a 



122 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

man whom she does not love, with whom she 
is not mentally, morally and spiritually mated, 
but legitimatizes her act by a marriage cere- 
mony, is lower in the moral scale than the 
woman of the street. The woman of great 
wealth who sells her name for a foreign title 
and high social position, marrying a depraved 
specimen for whom it is impossible to hold 
genuine affection, is lowest of all in the moral 
scale. No permit by legal license and no 
ceremony by magistrate, priest or preacher 
can render such a marriage right in the sight 
of God and sensible people. 

Therefore, as to the question of who should 
be married, much more than race is involved. 

Should marriage, generally, between peo- 
ple of the white and colored races be advo- 
cated? 

Most emphatically, No! 

In any possible circumstances could it ever 
be proper for a man of one of these races to 
marry a woman of the other race? 

To this as emphatically, Yes! 

Marriage is never legitimate and genuine 
unless the contracting parties are well adapted 
to each other and bound first by real affec- 



AMALGAMATION 123 

tion. This being true, marriage between peo- 
ple widely separated by color of skin, as a rule 
would be impossible. But, when a male and 
female are well adapted and are genuinely 
in love, regardless of racial distinction, no au- 
thority under heaven save the established laws 
of the land, has a right to forbid their mar- 
riage. 

This question, however, has no legitimate 
place in the discussion of the world subject 
of racial amalgamation, of which the rela- 
tions between the Negro and the white man 
is but one phase. In the natural trend of 
racial progress differentiation is nearing the 
end, and general re-admixture is at hand. 



CHAPTER XII 
THE NEW FREEDOM 

OF late there has been much talk about 
the "New Negro." There is, and can 
be, no such thing as a " new" Negro, but there 
can, and must be, a new freedom for the Ne- 
gro. The time has come when this fact must 
be recognized by all classes. Fifty years of 
progress by the Negro, together with the 
world upheaval in thought, resultant from the 
world war, has prepared the soil of society 
for a new growth with respect to the Negro 
in America. The upheaval in the United 
States, which necessitated the civil war a 
half century ago, gave the Negro physical 
freedom. The recent world agitation, among 
many other radical changes, will lead the Ne- 
gro of America into mental, economic and so- 
cial freedom. 

This new freedom is coming to the colored 
race, not through legislation, not by any sort 
of material force or arrogant assertion, not 

124 



THE NEW FREEDOM 125 

by way of threat or demand, but along the 
unobstructed pathway of divine truth. 

The Great Teacher said, "Ye shall know 
the truth, and the truth* shall make you free." 

That was a new and startling thing for 
Christ to say at the time he said it, and it is 
always new and startling when we grasp its 
significance and undertake to apply it. Yet 
it is a fact, that no real freedom ever came 
to an individual or people anywhere other 
than in this way. Not by shooting deadly bul- 
lets into men's bodies, but by driving divine 
ideas into their heads and hearts does liberty 
come to races and nations. 

All that is necessary to bring about com- 
plete harmony, permanent accord and co-op- 
eration between the white and black races in 
America is for both to understand and to ap- 
propriate the truth about themselves and 
each other. Ignorance, falsehood and prej- 
udice on both sides must be eliminated be- 
fore complete harmony can prevail. 

The white race must understand that the 
Negro* is fully entitled to economic freedom. 
The Constitution of the United States, by vir- 
tue of his citizenship, vouchsafes this to him. 



126 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

If in the past racial prejudice has denied him 
this right, despite the obstacles in his way, by 
virtue of his demonstrated ability to make dis- 
tinguished economic progress, he has doubly 
earned the right to complete economic free- 
dom. As a citizen of this nation, the Negro 
has equal rights with every other citizen to 
every material possession in any locality what- 
soever, which by the use of brain and money 
he may be able to obtain. 

The Negro is also entitled to equal oppor- 
tunity of using his abilities in every line of 
endeavor for economic advancement. He 
should not be discriminated against because 
of color. He should be freely and fully recog- 
nized and rewarded through merit alone. 

Freedom by the truth, in this age, must 
bring to the Negro complete social liberty. 
In the great mass of humanity, it is only be- 
cause of the densest ignorance, the meanest 
selfishness, the narrowest vision and the su- 
premest folly that any one denies to others 
the largest possible liberty and fullest fra- 
ternity in mutual co-operation for the legiti- 
mate enjoyment of the good things of this 
world. Thus, in the biggest and fullest sense 



THE NEW FREEDOM 127 



is society properly functioning. To mix and 
move in it, to contribute to it and to receive 
from it untrammeled and unhindered, is so- 
cial freedom. Those who by virtue of ability 
and disposition are able to contribute most 
to the great fund of human happiness, nat- 
urally get the most pleasure out of it, for it is 
only by giving, in the true sense, that we re- 
ceive. Race or color should not figure in 
this, save as they may determine the mental 
and spiritual measurements of the man. They 
should have nothing whatsoever to do with 
the opportunity of people to be the best and 
to do the most possible for themselves and 

for others. 

Economic and social liberty gives to the 
Negro the complete right to the very best 
sanitary and social atmosphere which by vir- 
tue of money and ability he is able to com- 
mand. Immeasurable wrong has been done 
the colored race by denying it this privilege. 
The white man has put "property values" 
above the mental and physical health of col- 
ored parents and their children. The longev- 
ity of Negroes has been decreased because of 
the unsanitary conditions in which they have 



128 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

lived, not so much because universally the Ne- 
gro is satisfied to exist in such atmosphere, 
but because universally the white people, 
South and North, East and West, have de- 
manded their segregation. By all reason, rel- 
ative to the rights of mankind, and by all just 
and humanitarian laws, moral character and 
financial ability alone, and not color of skin, 
should determine how and where people have 
their abode. 

In this era of the new freedom, the Negro 
must be entirely liberated from the prejudices 
other races have held against him. Every 
obstacle thus held in the w T ay of his progress 
and happiness must be removed. So far as 
concerns the attitude of others toward him and 
their co-operation with him, they must forget 
that he is black and that his ancestors w T ere 
slaves. With the passing of the old and the 
ushering in of the new, there is no place for 
that sort of folly. White peoples should rather 
rejoice at his aspirations and hail his achieve- 
ments. The hand of welcome and fellowship 
should be extended to him, ever encouraging 
him on his way. The strong right arm raised 
by the Negro for our defense in war should 



THE NEW FREEDOM 129 

be upheld by us in times of peace. The heart 
of the black race that has never had a false 
beat for the nation should be cherished by 
the entire population as a priceless possession. 
The aspirations and ambitions of this people 
toward a high place in the. economic, intel- 
lectual, moral and social life of our country 
should meet with encouragement and co-op- 
eration on every hand. 

If not, why not? 

To gainsay it, belies the fundamentals of 
our Constitution, tramples under foot the prin- 
ciples for which our armies have fought, and 
affirms that the life of Lincoln was a failure 
and that true democracy can never be. 



CHAPTER XIII 

WORKING OUT HIS OWN 
SALVATION 

APPROACHING the " conclusion of the 
whole matter," what of the Negro's fu- 
ture in America? 

The whole duty of the white man toward 
the Negro can be performed by removing all 
prejudice, and extending to him complete eco- 
nomic, intellectual and social freedom, to- 
gether with full co-operation looking toward 
his advancement. Then, he must "work out 
his own salvation." If he succeeds, so far as 
credit is given to any one, his will be the 
credit. If he fails to reach the goal of his am- 
bitions, he and he alone will be responsible. 

Nothing will be so necessary to the future 
success and happiness of the colored race in 
America as wise council on the part of its 
leaders, and sound, practical judgment on 
the part of the masses composing it. Wise 
discrimination is always necessary. Place and 

130 



WORKING OUT HIS OWN SALVATION 131 

position cannot be assumed by anybody, either 
white or black. Neither is progress possible 
by way of presumption. Nothing could so 
easily and quickly precipitate racial disturb- 
ances and riots, nothing so surely make racial 
progress by the Negro race impossible, as 
for them generally, without reference to eco- 
nomic, intellectual, moral or social standing 
among their own people, to presume that wil- 
fully and arrogantly they could break into 
white circles and demand " recognition." 
Peace and progress come not in this way. Po- 
sition is attained — not demanded or assumed. 

However, it is safe to say that no wise Ne- 
gro, no Negro worthy of recognition, ever de- 
mands that to which he is not entitled by vir- 
tue of ability and achievement. 

In working out his racial salvation with all 
hindrances removed, great opportunity for 
distinguished service to society as a whole is 
now open to the Negro. 

In chivalry toward woman, politeness and 
courtesy toward all, colored men today are 
in a position to set high example before so- 
ciety generally, because the Negro is naturally 
polite. 



132 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

Demonstrated respect for and courtesy to- 
ward women on the part of men generally is 
becoming a lost art. Not one man in fifty, 
either white or black in Northern cities, ever 
offers his seat to a woman standing in a 
crowded car. Few men remove their hats 
when ladies are present in elevators. There 
was a time in the South, when all men, both 
white and black, were in every way cour- 
teous to women, but even there they are not 
so polite and considerate today as they once 
were. 

Perhaps, as some claim, in these days of the 
" new woman," women themselves are largely 
responsible for the lack of courtesy shown 
them by men. But there can really be no 
"new woman" any more than there can be 
a "new Negro." There may be new and 
false ideas relative to both women and Ne- 
groes, but it is a sad day for society when 
women forget that they are women, and men 
cease to regard and treat them as such. Like- 
wise, it is a sad day for the Negro in society, 
when he forgets his instinctive politeness and 
treats ladies generally as white men treat 
them. 

In working out their social salvation as a 



WORKING OUT HIS OWN SALVATION 133 

class, nothing could more quickly and effec- 
tively elevate Negroes than to follow their 
natural inclination, and be polite and cour- 
teous to all women everywhere, thereby put- 
ting the white brother to shame. Whether 
every woman appreciates it or not, Negroes 
owe it to themselves to be gentlemen at all 
times and in all circumstances. A general or- 
ganization and movement among Negroes 
looking to this one thing would soon work 
a social revolution of politeness. Unladylike 
women and ungentlemanly men would be put 
to shame by such universal practice on the 
part of Negroes. 

The Negro's racial salvation must be con- 
structive. He must continue upon an ever en- 
larging scale to build institutionally for the 
welfare, not only of his own race, but of so- 
ciety as a whole. 

One characteristic trait, greatly to his ad- 
vantage, is that he is not so stingy and selfish 
as the white man. He is liberal, and a sport 
to his finger-tips. While this constitutional 
tendency has interfered with his thrift, when 
seasoned with sound judgment, it can but con- 
tribute to the general uplift of the race. 

[The greatest sin of this age is selfishness. 



134 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

It is pre-eminently the material, grasping age. 
" Every one for himself, and the devil take 
the hindmost," is the spirit of the times. The 
dependent and the needy are mostly forgotten. 
Public causes and humanitarian benefits go 
begging. Years elapse before the government 
recognizes an obligation to its heroic soldiers, 
and dominant political parties act in their be- 
half only from fear of loss of political prefer- 
ment. 

This is an impolite, discourteous and selfish 
time. 

What people, what race, what kindred or 
tongue in the whole wide world will be first 
to awake and bestir humanity in a great move- 
ment back to the " Fatherhood of God and 
the brotherhood of man?" 

This opportunity is open to the Negro of 
America, if he will but see the vision and act 
accordingly. 

The colored race can work out its own sal- 
vation very quickly by entering whole- 
heartedly into every great and legitimate 
movement for the betterment of society. Not 
simply as Negroes, but rather as patriotic cit- 
izens, they should do this. 



WORKING OUT HIS OWN SALVATION 135 

If it is well for the white people to over- 
look the fact that Negroes are black and to 
forget that their ancestors were slaves, it is 
quite as necessary that Negroes, so far as pos- 
sible, do the same thing. They must rid them- 
selves of the feeling that the white man has re- 
garded them as inferior. They must cease 
to dwell upon the fact that their forefathers 
were slaves, and no longer hold a grudge 
against living white people because their 
fathers were slave-holders. 

The line of demarcation between the Ne- 
gro and the white man in America, while 
physically distinct, is psychologically imagi- 
nary. It has been said that "The Mason and 
Dixon's Line, which divides the North from 
the South, has become a broad scar of honor 
across the nation's breast." Likewise, the 
rugged pathway of prejudice between the Ne- 
gro and the white man is becoming a high- 
way of holiness, made smooth by sanity and 
fraternity, " where black meets white," and 
together the twain go forward toward the per- 
fect day. 



CHAPTER XIV 
THE INDIVIDUAL NEGRO 

DR. Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote inter- 
estingly about the "Three Johns." An 
eminent minister gave a great sermon on 
"The Four Men," — "the man the world 
sees," "the man as seen by those who know 
him best," "the man as seen by himself" and 
"the man God sees." Like the "Three-in- 
one " oil, there are three or four " recognized " 
personalities in every one of us. 

While each of these "four men" may be 
widely different, the last two mentioned, " the 
man as seen by himself" and "the man God 
sees," constitute his real personality, his true 
individual being. What a man thinks of him- 
self and what he does with himself must meas- 
ure his career, fix his character, and determine 
his destiny. 

The Bible sets forth profound truth in the 
statement that "No man liveth to himself, 
and no man dieth to himself," but this is not 

136 



THE INDIVIDUAL NEGRO 137 



the whole truth about individual existence. In 
another sense, every person is born into this 
world, plays his brief part in life's drama, and 
passes out of this world absolutely alone. 

Tennyson's poem, " Crossing the Bar," one 
of the finest pieces of verse ever penned by 
man, is wrong in theory. It makes death the 
beginning of the lonely and mysterious voy- 
age of the soul, when in truth it is at birth we 
are launched upon the uncharted sea of ex- 
istence. Fortunately, "the man as he sees 
himself " and " the man God sees," is inwardly 
endowed with a spiritual and mental magnet, 
pointing ever toward the fixed star of truth 
set high in the firmament; toward which, if 
he unerringly steers his bark, no power can 
prevent his ultimate entrance into the port 
of eternal peace. To do this requires the 
keenest individuality. No one makes this 
voyage as a passenger. Each one must be his 
own pilot. 

Therefore, in considering any of the prob- 
lems of life, such as the race question, we fail 
to reach the core of the matter if we do not 
take individuality into account. Social up- 
lift, education of the masses, elevation of gen- 



138 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

eral standards, etc., are necessary, but we must 
not forget that the masses are made up of in- 
dividuals, and that social units may be im- 
proved only by improvement of the indi- 
viduals. 

Then, readers, whether you be white or col- 
ored, the writer cherishes the hope that some 
of the truths set forth and some of the ideals 
advocated herein may find lodgment in open 
minds, and be as "seeds sown upon good 
ground," in the soil of honest hearts, but he 
feels that this is possible only through indi- 
vidual appeal and response. 

The race question will cease to be a prob- 
lem only when individuals who by the pe- 
culiarity of their skin pigment, whether it 
happens to be white or colored, think not of 
themselves as Caucasians, Mongolians or Ne- 
groes; but, as individuals, considering them- 
selves as units of the human family, made in 
the " image and likeness of God." Herein lies 
the dignity of humanity, separate and apart 
from all racial distinctions. Any lesser con- 
ception of being is the result of an ignorant 
selfishness unworthy of a creature whose ori- 
gin and destiny are eternal, and whose ex- 



THE INDIVIDUAL NEGRO 139 

istence in the material body is comparatively 
so brief, that the color of his human skin is 
as inconsequential as the color of the paint 
on the house of his earthly abode. 

By individual development, Negroes them- 
selves may overcome every vestige of preju- 
dice against them as a people, and outstrip 
other contenders in the race of life. No other 
age or generation in the world's history has 
been so opportune for individualism as is this 
particular time. In this material age, the 
making of great men and women is well nigh 
a lost art. Material grossness and physical 
lewdness are in the ascendency. High living 
and low thinking have led humanity at large 
to the brink of a precipice, over which, if not 
halted, society must plunge into the ruins of 
abysmal darkness. 

And yet, no other time has heard so much 
about reform and uplift. But in its promise 
the general theory of reformation is wrong. 
It is a reversion to the old time idea of exter- 
nal control without reference to the internal 
well-springs of life and action. It would reg- 
ulate society from without, giving no heed to 
individual inclination and personal prefer- 
ment. 



140 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

Jesus, the greatest of all teachers, was pre- 
eminently an individualist. Some of his pro- 
foundest utterances were made to audiences of 
one. He never wrote anything, save once 
upon the ground, and nobody knows what he 
wrote then, for a careless footstep, a brush of 
the broom, or a puff or wind obliterated it for- 
ever. He gathered around him a few apostles 
and disciples and developed within them in- 
dividuality, surcharged with divine impetus. 
Without purse and without scrip he com- 
mitted them to the greatest task ever under- 
taken by mortals, and sent them forth as 
" lambs among wolves" to revolutionize and 
convert the world. 

Succeeding ages have testified to the sound- 
ness of his theory and ages upon ages yet to 
come will reveal the grandeur of its propor- 
tions. 

Therefore, brothers of the colored race, 
struggling for social freedom, opportunity 
and inter-racial fraternity among your hosts, 
develop individuality! The person who is in- 
wardly armed with mental rectitude and 
moral courage is impregnable and invulnera- 
ble, while all others, regardless of external 



THE INDIVIDUAL NEGRO 141 

fortifications, must submit eventually to in- 
glorious defeat. 

When the worth of man is determined by 
soul qualities and mental vigor, and not by 
outward appearances and material possessions, 
there may yet be human problems, but there 
can be no race problems. Then individuality 
alone will count, and social standards will 
be elevated, not by external laws, but by in- 
dividual development. 

There is coming a good day of understand- 
ing when one race will be no more jealous of 
another than one variety of flowers is envious 
of another. The great mass of mankind 
would be tiresome and monotonous were all 
people exactly alike. The world of humanity 
would be much less interesting were there 
only one race of people. Flowers themselves 
would soon cease to awaken within us the 
sense of beauty, were they all of the same 
mould and color. 

God in His wisdom has introduced into 
His universe an endless variety. The sands 
by the sea, the leaves of the forest, the stars 
in the heavens are every one distinguishable 
from every other. Of the uncounted billions 



142 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

of individuals who have lived in the past, of 
those living now, and those yet to be born, 
every one has been, is, and shall be possessed 
of an individuality clearly distinguished from 
all others. 

Thus, verily, as races and as individuals we 
are meant to grow in the gardens of the gods, 
in eternal unity and infinite diversity, each 
contributing his part to the beauty and har- 
mony of the whole. 



CHAPTER XV 

THEORY AND PRACTICE 

U TF ye know these things, happy are ye if 
A ye do them." As " faith without works 
is dead," so theory without practice is fruit- 
less. 

Of course, interest in and study of the race 
problem by both white and colored people is 
essential to an understanding of it, and under- 
standing is prerequisite to its solution. 

If we are to recognize the subject as a " race 
problem," the intelligent conception involves 
both the white and the black races. Neither 
race can ever solve the problem without the 
co-operation of the other, nor is co-operation 
between the two races possible without recog- 
nition of being jointly involved and jointly re- 
sponsible. It is no more a "Negro question" 
than it is a " white man's" question. It is a 
question of neither, singly, but of both jointly. 
Though seemingly paradoxical, while the Ne- 
gro must work out his own salvation, he can- 

143 



144 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 



not do so without the help of the white man. 

Theoretically, the open minded leadership 
of both races must meet upon the highway of 
understanding; and practically together upon 
that highway they must walk toward the goal 
of high achievement. When the leaders of 
both races do this, unquestionably the masses 
of both races will follow. 

Practical recognition of the vital phases of 
the question must characterize both races. 

Recognition of the value of intellectual and 
moral forces, on the part of the Negro, is an 
essential incentive to increased energy in the 
development of these virtues. The same is 
true of economic values. A large majority of 
Negroes, as well as a large majority of white 
people, have not "learned the worth of a 
dollar." 

But on the other hand, white people, in co- 
operation with Negroes, must also give, not in 
theory alone, but in the most practical way, 
full recognition of intellectual, moral and eco- 
nomic values to the Negro. 

We must recognize, further, the practical 
impossibility of physical proximity, of a gen- 
eral intermingling of two races upon the 



THEORY AND PRACTICE 145 

thoroughfares, in the highways and byways of 
city and country, without the community of 
interests, if the two races are to abide in peace 
with each other. The white man cannot say 
to the Negro, "Grow, expand, achieve, suc- 
ceed," and at the same time bind him around 
with restrictions which render growth, expan- 
sion, achievement and success impossible. 

Terminology, here, of course, is relative, 
for as has been shown in previous pages, the 
growth, expansion and achievement of the 
Negro race within the last fifty years, which 
has scarcely been surpassed in history, in a 
sense, has been the accomplishment of the 
"impossible." Indeed, those not familiar 
with the facts would consider such achieve- 
ment as absolutely impossible. 

With the Negro doing his best in the more 
advantageous position of having the co-oper- 
ation of the white man, it is only a question 
of a few more decades when the "color line" 
will have been obliterated so far as the es- 
sentials to complete amity and full apprecia- 
tion between the races are concerned. 

This cannot be accomplished at once. The 
goal cannot be reached with one stride. Many 



146 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

obstacles must be overcome. Fanatics among 
both races will do much to hinder the cause. 
Unfortunately, within the minds of many 
white men and many Negroes, prejudice 
reigns supreme, and reason has no abiding 
place, but these are in the minority. The 
great majority of both races are honest, serious 
and desirous of doing the best possible for 
the welfare of society as a whole. 

The late Dr. Booker T. Washington once 
said, "I propose that no man shall drag me 
down by making me hate him." Were every- 
body like Dr. Washington in this respect, the 
"race problem" as well as all other social 
problems would be robbed of their sting, and 
in the natural course of events would bring 
complete order out of what is well nigh so- 
cial chaos in the world today. 

The time is ripe in the North for some im- 
mediate changes in inter-racial relationships, 
and it is a question of only a few years when 
the same will be true in the South. 

First among these is the abolishment of the 
practice of segregation. Every free citizen 
of this country has the legal and moral right 
to own property and to live in any community 



THEORY AND PRACTICE 147 



made possible by his financial ability and 
moral character. Nothing but unwarranted 
prejudice can gainsay this proposition. In 
many Negro homes, religion, culture and high 
character reign supreme. Such families are 
an asset to any community, not a liability. 

The Negro is entitled, now, to equal eco- 
nomic rights and recognition. The law in 
most states gives the Negro equal privileges on 
the common carriers of the country. Even- 
tually this will be true in all the states of the 
nation. Is he not also entitled to equal busi- 
ness privileges? 

It would be well to have worthy Negro rep- 
resentatives among the stockholders and in 
directorates of the great business organiza- 
tions of our country, such as banks, big stores, 
public utilities, and others seeking patronage 
of all the people, regardless of color. 

The Negro should have political represen- 
tation in proportion to his percentage of the 
population. In a city the size of Chicago a 
representative Negro should be on the public 
school board. The same principle applies to 
the federal government. With about one- 
tenth of the population of the nation Negroes, 



148 WHEN BLACK MEETS WHITE 

with no traitors among them, with every 
one a loyal supporter of the Government in 
times of peace, and with every able-bodied son 
of the race ready to make the supreme sacri- 
fice for his country in time of war, why should 
they not be represented in the halls of Con- 
gress? There are Negroes in America in every 
way eminently fitted to fill a cabinet position, 
and the time is soon coming when this fitness 
will be recognized and rewarded by some 
great president. 

A few years ago in one of the leading South- 
ern cities the churches united in a thanksgiv- 
ing service held in a great tabernacle, and one 
of the colored ministers of the city was in- 
vited to preach the sermon, which he did to 
the satisfaction and edification of all present, 
both white and black. 

Nothing could more surely cement the in- 
ter-racial relationships of the white and black 
people than public gatherings in great meet- 
ing places, with the giants of both races there 
to discuss the issues of the hour. Such move- 
ments would render " race riots" impossible, 
and would lead to lasting friendship and fra- 
ternal regard between the two peoples. It 



THEORY AND PRACTICE 149 



will be a happy day for the nation when some 
American city sets such an example. 

Back to the question of "equality," which 
will ever arise in the minds of many more 
zealous or prejudiced than wise, let us remem- 
ber that equality or inequality are conditions 
which cannot be forced. With every obstacle 
out of the way, time alone can adjust the so- 
called "social" differences between the two 
races. And, so surely as the sun continues to 
rise and set, these differences will be adjusted. 

The time will never come when general in- 
termarriages between the races will be practi- 
cable ; the wise of neither race desire it. There 
is no doubt that full understanding, perma- 
nent co-operation and eternal brotherhood be- 
tween the black and the white races in 
America will obtain in the future. 



The End 



